Micron, Qimonda beat Samsung to DDR3

SAN FRANCISCO — Memory chip makers Qimonda AG and Micron Technology Inc. have delivered samples of next-generation DDR3 DRAM ahead of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the DRAM market and technology leader, according to chip analysis firm Semiconductor Insights Inc. (SI).

"The arrival of DDR3, with the promise to double the speed of the previous generation DDR2 without a significant increase in power consumption, has been long anticipated in the market," said Jenn Markey, SI's vice president of marketing, in a statement. "The surprise for us is that we're seeing Qimonda and Micron DDR3 samples ahead of Samsung, the traditional technology leader in DRAM."

DDR3, or Double Data Rate 3, promises data rates up to 1600Mb/s, which is more than double current DDR. DDR3 also uses a reduced supply voltage from 1.8V to 1.5V, which will lower power consumption resulting in less heat dissipation and an extended battery life in mobile systems, according to SI. Significant improvements have been made in package, pinout, and signaling for higher-speed operation of DDR3 memory, the firm said.

Bill Lauer, senior director of marketing for Micron's memory group, said the company plans to be in production on 1-gigabit DDR3 chips and offer samples of 2-gigabit DDR3 chips in middle of 2007.

"DDR3 is the memory solution of choice for next-generation, high-performance computing and consumer systems, offering significant advantages including lower power consumption, higher throughput rates and increased module densities" Lauer said.

SI said the DDR3 market is expected to be realized in 2007 with a market sweet spot of 512-megabit and 1-gigabit devices operating at speeds of 800MHz and higher.