Hynix Develops Fastest Graphic Chips
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of dynamic random access memory chips (DRAMs) by revenue, said Thursday that it has developed the industry’s first one gigabit GDDR5 graphics DRAM.
GDDR, or Graphics Double Data Rate, is the fastest and highest density graphics memory widely available in pricey electronic devices such as PCs and game consoles, which require vivid and dynamic images, according to the company.
The new graphics DRAM processes up to 20 gigabytes of data per second, or more than 20 hours of DVD quality video, more than twice than that of current graphics DRAM devices.
``We will produce the chips from the first half of next year and will increase the portion of the chips in our total sales,’’ Hynix spokesperson Park Hyun said.
Currently, the graphics DRAM chips take up 10 percent of total sales. Industry sources said the chip industry is expected to be valued at $2 billion by the end of the year.
``The newly introduced chips will increase the company’s profitability,’’ Park added.
The news came after the German-based DRAM supplier, Qimonda started shipping 512 megabit GDDR5 samples to OEMs earlier this month, with production planned for 2008.
Hynix, which is burdened with volatile DRAM prices as they account for nearly 70 percent of its total sales, is aggressively diversifying its business portfolios to profitable NAND, PRAM and even non-memory sectors.
``We cannot survive only with memory chips. So we urgently need to diversify our portfolios,’’ Hynix CEO Kim Jong-kap said.