***Samsung Electronics Rolls Out 256M DRAM Chips
(March 31)
According to Korea Economic Weekly, Samsung has announced that it
began rolling out 256-megabit DRAMs on a commercial basis ahead
of any other industry players.
Lee Yoon-woo, Samsung president, held a press conference in Seoul
that the 256M DRAMs are fabricated in a 0.16- micron (0.16
millionth of a meter) process and he believes it would take an
additional six to 12 months for other leading semiconductor
makers to reach the technology.
Samsung Electronics’ 256M DRAM can be fabricated on the company’s
existing production lines for 64M and 128M SDRAM, thus allowing
it to lower costs.
The latest device is well suited to the rapidly-growing memory
requirements in servers, workstations and high-performance PCs.
The 256M SDRAM is also suitable for use in systems of ever-higher
integration, where smaller form-factor and lower power
dissipation are essential trends.
The device is also fully compatible with the current PC-100 and
PC-133 standards, and can extend performance up to 167MHz per
second. Concurrently, Samsung expects to complete development of
a 256M Rambus DRAM in April to further expand its product
offering and technological leadership.
Hwang estimated Samsung’s 256M DRAM output for 1999 would be
between two million and three million chips at an average price
of $105 apiece.
In a statement, Samsung Electronics said it had delivered samples
of the 256M DRAM chips to such big names as Intel and IBM last
April for extended tests in the PC environment.
The world market for 256M DRAM devices is expected to reach $24
billion.
Wave Issue 9038 4/8/99 Article 3-01