Samsung announces 4Gbit DRAM
New chip will reduce data centre costs claims company
By Lucas Mearian, Computerworld (US) | Published: 06:18, 30 January 2009
Samsung has developed what it claims is the first 4Gbit DDR3 DRAM chip using a 50 nanometre (nm) lithography process. The new chip doubles the density of earlier DRAM chips, yielding modules with up to 32GB capacity, said the company.
The development of low-power 4Gbit DDR3 will lead to a reduction in data centre costs by requiring fewer machines, improve server time management and increasing overall efficiency, claimed Samsung.
In September, Samsung announced its development of the world's first 50nm-class 2Gbit DDR3 DRAM. It now sells a line of high-performance DDR3 products using that process technology with 4Gbit, 2Gbit and 1Gbit chips.
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"By designing our 4Gbit DDR3 using state-of-the-art 50nm class technology, we are setting the stage for what ultimately will result in significant cost-savings for servers and for the overall computing market," said Kenin Lee, vice president of Samsung Semiconductor.
Bob Merritt, an analyst with market research firm Convergent Semiconductors, said the higher-density chips could lead to big price cuts for users as production prices drop for equipment manufacturers. While non-volatile memory innovation in the form of higher density helped set off the long sales downturn in the DRAM chip industry, Samsung has positioned itself to be a leader once the market comes back, Merritt said. He predicted that would occur sometime next year.
"This industry has lived through these sales cycles before, and when they come out there's usually some shift in the manufacturer rankings," Merritt said. "This announcement does say this isn't the end of the world for the DRAM industry."
DRAM prices have plummeted over the past two years because of over-supply, due mainly to higher capacity chips created from 300-millimetre wafer fabrication. The downturn has even led some manufacturers, such as Qimonda, to file for bankruptcy.
"It's a combination of bringing on some highly efficient manufacturing capacity methods, while at the same time demand dropped off," Merritt said.
