Samsung Electronics’ 512-megabyte GDDR5 Graphics Memory

By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest DRAM manufacturer by revenue, said it has developed the industry’s fastest memory chip with a density of 512-megabytes ― a GDDR5.

The development of the faster, higher-end chip underlines chipmakers’ efforts to buffer profits from steadily declining chip prices.

The series five, graphics double-data-rate memory chips can transfer data at 6 gigabits per second, which is more than four times faster than those in the latest game consoles today.

The graphics memory is also capable of transmitting moving images and associated data at 24 gigabytes per second or processing up to 16 DVD quality videos while saving 20 percent in power consumption over today’s most popular graphics chip.

Graphics memory chips are commonly installed in personal computers, workstations and game consoles requiring vivid and dynamic images.

``By using a finer 60-nanometer processing technology, we will mass-produce the chips during the first half of 2008. Samples of the new chips have already been delivered to major graphic processor companies last month,’’ said the company.

``The new GDDR5 will spur software developers to move a new level of eye-popping games,’’ Samsung officials said.

According to estimates from Mercury, a market research firm, the graphics memory chip business is expected to rise to $3.7 billion by 2011 from around $2.9 billion this year.

1-gigabyte GDDR5 Memory of Hynix Semiconductor

War in Graphics Memory Industry

The news came a month after Samsung’s runner-up Hynix developed the industry’s largest one gigabit GDDR5 graphics DRAM.

Hynix said the chip processes up to 20 gigabytes of data per second, for more than 20 hours of DVD quality video, more than twice than that of current graphics DRAM devices.

Moreover, the German-based DRAM supplier, Qimonda has started shipping 512-megabyte GDDR5 samples to OEMs earlier this month, with production planned for 2008.

``With the `speed’ advantage for Samsung and `storage’ merit for Hynix, the two companies are expected to have fierce competition in the DVD and game consoles sectors from the first half of next year,’’ said a Hynix official.

According to the data from iSuppli, Samsung took the lead in the memory implementation market with a share of 27.7 percent in the third quarter, followed by Hynix and Qimonda with 22.8 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively.

yckim@koreatimes.co.kr