1Gb DRAM replaces 512Gb as mainstream PC chip
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The 1Gb DRAM (dynamic RAM) chip has replaced 512Gb DRAM as the mainstream memory capacity in the PC industry as of October, according to DRAMeXchange, a sign most PCs coming off production lines can now use Microsoft&#39;s Vista OS.All of the premium versions of Vista require&#160;more DRAM per PC&#160;to ensure smooth operation of the OS, which is more complex and requires more hardware than its predecessor, XP.The changeover in the DRAM market has taken longer than many companies expected. Several DRAM makers&#160;built new factories in anticipation&#160;Vista would take the PC market by storm this year and antiquate XP. That hasn&#39;t happened. Instead, the adoption of the new OS is moving along at a steady pace, albeit&#160;slower than the DRAM industry expected.The heavy investment in DRAM factories, however, has caused a massive oversupply.&#160;Prices of most DRAM chips have fallen&#160;by over 70 percent so far this year, and are currently near or below the cost of production for most companies.The contract price of 1Gb, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) DRAM chips that run at 667MHz fell 12.5 percent from two weeks ago to $2.63 each, a new low for this year according to DRAMeXchange, which runs an online trading site for the chips. The most recent DRAM slump hit in early October, as prices fell by 25 percent. Analysts said the market may not turn around until late next year, and possibly later if companies keep building new production lines.&quot;We do not expect memory chip makers to show any improvement in profitability at least until [the second half of 2008] unless there is stabilization or a recovery in pricing,&quot; said Warren Lau, chip industry analyst at Macquarie Research.Samsung Electronics already increased its production line spending plans 23 percent this year, he said, and the aggressive stance will likely cause rivals such as Elpida Memory and Hynix Semiconductor&#160;to follow suit so they can protect or increase their DRAM market share.Increased spending amid a chip glut should keep DRAM cheap for a while. Market prices normally take about a month to filter down to users, according to one DRAMeXchange analyst, and users can benefit from lower prices in a few ways. PC vendors often increase the amount of DRAM per computer when prices are low, or offer additional DRAM as an incentive to buy a new PC. Also, the price of DRAM modules found in stores will fall as retailers clear out their older, more expensive inventory.Contract DRAM prices are renegotiated every two weeks between DRAM makers and PC vendors such as Hewlett-Packard&#160;and Dell. Around 80 percent of all DRAM is sold by contract, while the rest is sold on a spot market similar to commodities trading in oil and gold.&#160;
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Big Blue comes up with a way to cram more memory directly onto its processors, boosting performance starting in 2008.
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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory  technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing the industry's  first 1Gigabit (Gb) DDR2 DRAM (dynamic random access memory) using 60  nanometer (nm)--class process technology.
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At the 3GSM World Congress today, Micron Technology, Inc., (NYSE:MU),  introduced a new 1 Gigabit (Gb) Mobile DRAM for popular high-end,  feature rich mobile phones with multimedia and computing features.
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The chip is expected to be unveiled Tuesday, in time to bump up the performance of game desktops before the holidays.
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Keeping spotty head above US$1 water The DRAM industry has seen DDR2 spot prices spike by 15-20 per cent in the past month, with eTT chips outpacing branded equivalents.â¦
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For decades, PC performance has jumped and prices have dropped, owing largely to the ability to squeeze increasing numbers of transistors into the computers&#39; silicon brains - but they can&#39;t shrink forever.
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While most mobile phones are lucky to have 4 MB of RAM to store user data, Samsung&#39;s new SPH-V5400 phone offers a whopping 1.5 GB of storage courtesy of its integrated mini-hard drive.
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Intel&#39;s Pentium M 765 ships with 2 MB of onboard power-managed Level 2 cache and a frequency of 2.1 GHz. It also features a 400-MHz system bus and power-saving technologies designed to optimize
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Smaller, more efficient memory could double chip performance for gamers and multimedia use by 2008.
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(InfoWorld) - In an upgrade that could improve chip performance for gamers and multimedia users, IBM plans to double the performance of its microprocessors in 2008 by using smaller, more efficient memory, according to a paper presented at the ISSCC (International Solid State Circuits Conference) trade show in San Francisco Wednesday. IBM plans to use DRAM (dynamic RAM) instead of SRAM (static RAM) as the embedded memory cache built onto each chip. The change will allow each chip to store its data in one-third the area and use one-fifth the electricity for standby power, said Subramanian Iyer, director of 45-nanometer technology development at IBM. The approach will vastly improve chip performance for multicore processors and for applications that need to move large amounts of graphic data, such as gaming, networking and image-intensive multimedia, he said. IBM is already using the new embedded DRAM (eDRAM) in 65nm prototype chips, and plans to roll it out commercially by 2008 for its entire range of 45nm chips, including its Power line. The technology could have a big impact on consumer electronics, since IBM supplies chips for all three of the top gaming consoles; Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii, and Microsoft's Xbox 360. A typical commercial microprocessor like Intel's Core 2 Duo devotes 60 percent of its surface area to memory, Iyer said. Replacing that with eDRAM cells taking up just one-third as much space will allow chip designers to build smaller chips and reduce the "run lengths," the length of wire that data must travel as it commutes around the chip, said John Barth, senior technology staff member and chief of eDRAM architecture for IBM. IBM has used embedded DRAM in its chips for the BlueGene supercomputer, but those PowerPC processors use moderately performing, bulk-technology DRAM, which is far slower than SRAM. To create the new design, IBM will add a high-speed type of DRAM to its current silicon-on-insulator (SOI) architecture. "This DRAM now is almost as fast as SRAM. It may not be as fast at the micro level, but when you get down to 45nm, it will be faster at the system level. It's going to just blow the doors off," Barth said. "A typical microprocessor takes 14 clock cycles to get data from its cache. Using DRAM slows that down, but only one clock [cycle]. By doubling the amount of memory on the die, we can get double-digit percentage gains at the system level." The advance comes at the same time that several other chip vendors are seeking better ways to move large quantities of graphics data. Advanced Micro Devices evenÂ acquired graphics card maker ATIÂ in 2006, and now plans to combine its graphics power with AMD's processing chips in a single chip called Fusion. That challenge was compounded in February, since Microsoft's new Vista OS has a graphics-intensive interface that demands increased PC storage space, faster processors and even separate graphics cards or coprocessors.
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InfoWorld - If you&#39;re in any doubt that flash memory-based solid-state disks are on a course to quickly replace hard-disk drives in laptop computers, just take a look along the aisles of this year&#39;s Computex trade show.
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The Motley Fool - Today's flash memory chips store as many as 32 billion bits on a single chip. It's an impressive achievement, but manufacturers only have a few more years of squeezing those components into ever-smaller configurations before the whole process becomes either too expensive or physically impossible. That's why today's news from IBM (NYSE: IBM - News), Macronix (Nasdaq: MXIC - News), and Qimonda (NYSE: QI - News), announcing the creation of a new "phase-change" material that could lead to the development of more powerful memory chips, is a big deal.
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The rapid uptake of smartphones around the world has ensured the future of DRAM (dynamic RAM) in mobile handsets, where the chips are used in every unit shipped.
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Chipmaker's speedy Pentium 4 gets even faster.
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70-megabit memory chip with 35-nanometer transistors is due out in 2005
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(InfoWorld) - Some of Taiwan's DRAM makers have reported record monthly sales for August, highlighting an increase in DRAM prices that could continue in the months ahead. The higher prices are unlikely to affectÂ PC pricesÂ thanks to the stiff competition among system vendors and makers of other types of components, such as microprocessors. But users who want some extra DRAM for their PCs could find themselves handing over a bit more money than before. Nanya Technology, Powerchip Semiconductor, and ProMOS Technologies all reported record sales for August this week. The higher sales stem partly from an increase in PC sales in some parts of the world. That increase drives up prices for DRAM, since most of the chips -- around three quarters of the global supply -- end up in PCs. Analysts say PC demand could stay robust for the next several months, as back-to-school demand and holiday demand are followed by the launch of Microsoft's new operating system, Vista. That could keep prices for DRAM high. The spot price Tuesday for the most widely used DRAM, 512Mb DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) chips, is around US$6.00, according to DRAMeXchange Technology. Crystal Lee, a memory chip industry analyst at ABN AMRO AsiaÂ in Taipei, forecasts that prices for the chips will remain at or near that level in coming months. Powerchip and ProMOS have been improving their ability to make chips using 90-nanometer production technology, which allows companies to make chips that are smaller, more powerful and more energy efficient. It can also help them reduce costs, because making smaller chips allows their production lines to churn out more chips using the same raw materials. Nanya's sales for August rose 32 percent to NT$6.62 billion, a new all-time high for the chip maker, the company said Tuesday. A day earlier, Powerchip Semiconductor said its sales for August rose to NT$8.03 billion (US$245 million), up from NT$4.45 billion in the same month last year. The figure was also 14 percent higher than July, due to higher prices for the chips and increased output at factories. It was the company's fifth straight historical high. ProMOS's sales hit NT$6.01 billion last month, up from NT$2.53 billion during the same time a year ago, and 15 percent higher than July. "DRAM contract and spot prices continued to rise last month, but we also benefitted from our 90 nanometer process," said Ben Tseng, spokesman for ProMOS.