Memory

SK Hynix, one of the world’s major producers of memory, on Tuesday said that it had begun volume shipments of its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) designed for bandwidth-demanding applications. The first products to use HBM will be AMD’s Radeon R9 Fury-series graphics cards, but eventually other devices will utilize the new …

Some market observers believe that prices of dynamic random access memory are about to increase, which will significantly improve profitability of DRAM producers. While this is essentially correct, there are reports that Samsung Electronics is dropping prices of memory in a bid to boost revenues, which could hurt other manufacturers' …

When Patriot Memory was founded in 1985 – some 30 years ago – its main goal was to provide high-performance random access memory solutions for PCs. When I first met with Patriot Memory reps in person about a decade ago, the company was all about offering advanced memory modules, but …

G.Skill revealed its ultimate DDR4 memory kits at the Computex trade-show this week. The upcoming DDR4 kits from the renowned maker of advanced DRAM for enthusiasts, will be able to operate at clock-rates up to 3.80GHz in quad-channel mode. Besides, the company showcased the world’s first and only 128GB DDR4 …

G.Skill, one of the world’s leading suppliers of enthusiast-class memory modules, at Computex introduced its new Trident Z-series DDR4 memory solutions that will be aimed at high-performance systems. The new kits will address not only Intel X99 high-end desktop platform, but also enthusiast-class Intel Z170 platforms featuring “Skylake” processors. The …

Adata, one of the world’s largest independent makers of memory modules, and G.Skill, a leading producer of enthusiast-class memory solutions for overclockers, this week said that their commercially available DDR4 modules can hit 4.0GHz frequency without use of extreme cooling methods. Engineers from Adata used MSI’s X99 Xpower AC mainboard, …

JEDEC, a leading stanard setting organization, this week announced the first standards for support of “hybrid” memory modules that fit into DDR4 DRAM memory slots, but contain NAND flash memory. Such non-volatile dual in-line memory modules (NVDIMMs) will be used for ultra-high-performance storage devices as well as for ultra-secure DRAM …

Prices of dynamic random access memory have been declining rather rapidly this year because of weak demand for personal computers and tablets. According to a media report, DRAM prices are the lowest in about 26 months. DRAM sport prices dropped around 9 per cent in the second quarter of 2015, …

Intel Corp.’s upcoming code-named “Skylake-S” microprocessor will promote the new DDR4 memory standard considerably more aggressively than it was initially believed. Although integrated memory controller of “Skylake” supports different types of DRAM, the processors will not officially support DDR3, but will only be compatible with a low-power version of the …

The switch to X99 can be painful on the wallet but MSI is looking to help alleviate some of the burden by offering up motherboard and DDR4 RAM combos at Dabs UK. DDR4 memory has a number of advantages over DDR3, including lower power usage and higher overclocking abilities. With X99 motherboards, …

Corsair Memory on Thursday introduced three new 128GB quad-channel DDR4 memory kits aimed at ultra-high-performance desktops and workstations. The new memory solutions offer server-class capacities with rather high clock-rates, but their prices are beyond the reach of 99 per cent of PC enthusiasts. Corsair offers three 128GB quad-channel kits: two …

G.Skill, one of the leading makers of advanced memory modules, on Tuesday rolled-out its highest-performing DDR4 memory kit. The 16GB quad-channel set of memory modules can operate at whopping 3.66GHz and deliver incredible levels of performance in games and demanding applications. G.Skill’s Ripjaws 4 series DDR4 3666MHz memory kit consists of …

Kingston Memory has introduced the world’s fastest 128GB DDR4 quad-channel memory kit that is rated to run at 3.0GHz. The kit is designed for high-end workstations based on Intel Corp.’s Core i7-5960X central processing unit. The kit consists of eight 16GB HyperX Predator modules that can run at 3000MHz with …

EVGA Corp. has quietly started to sell its own-brand memory modules in the U.S. The modules are designed for enthusiast-class personal computers, but do not offer extreme performance like DIMMs from traditional suppliers of high-end memory. Since the new products are not available widely, it looks like the company is …

Samsung Electronics plans to invest additional $9.2 billion in capacity expansion of the world’s largest semiconductor fab, a media report claims. At present it is unclear how exactly Samsung plans to expand its fab, but the cost of the whole project – around $23.6 billion – already looks staggering. Samsung …

When it comes to high-end memory modules for enthusiasts, there is always a trade-off between their clock-rates and capacities. It is not easy to overclock DIMMs powered by multiple memory ICs [integrated circuits], which is why it is complicated to install a lot of fast memory. However, G.Skill on Thursday …

The multi-threaded performance of Haswell-E processors makes them ideal for home users with demanding workloads. Video editors, game streamers, and users running virtual machines are some of the audiences who may benefit from up to eight CPU cores running on the Haswell microarchitecture. Those demanding workloads can bring with them …

Samsung Electronics plans to concentrate on expansion of production capacities used to make its 3D V-NAND memory going forward. A media report claims that the South Korean conglomerate no longer plans to build new manufacturing facilities for production of traditional planar NAND flash. NAND flash was invented by Toshiba Corp. …

Samsung Electronics overwhelmed the world of semiconductors when it announced plans to build a chip production plant that will cost almost $15 billion last October. At the time it was unclear for what the giant plans to use its fab in Pyeongtaek, a city south of Seoul. According to a …

SanDisk is one of the leading producers of NAND flash-based devices, could be an excellent acquisition target for Seagate and Western Digital, according to a financial analyst. While at present the takeover of SanDisk is a hypothetical thing, HDD makers may be very interested in acquiring a company with NAND …

Micron Technology said this week that it had already begun trial production of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips using its 10nm-class fabrication process. The manufacturing technology is still under development, but trial production indicates that it is proceeding as planned. “1x nanometer DRAM development is also proceeding well and …

Micron Technology has announced that it will reduce shipments of its NAND flash memory to the spot market. While the move may have limited effects on the market initially, it could lead to consolidation of makers of NAND flash-based devices, including solid-state drives. In a bid to improve its profit …

SK Hynix is about to announce new multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips that are expected to boost performance of solid-state drives in various applications. The new chips also promise better reliability than previous-generation NAND flash ICs [integrated circuits]. The world’s third largest producer of NAND flash memory is …

Toshiba Corp. and SanDisk Corp. this week said that they have finished development of vertically-stacked 3D NAND memory devices. The BiCS [bit cost scalable] NAND flash memory from the two companies will be mass-produced in 2016 and will enable new solid-state storage devices with enhanced reliability and performance. Toshiba’s three-dimensional …

Triple-level cell (TLC) NAND flash memory is dramatically less durable than traditional multi-level cell (MLC) or single-level cell (SLC) NAND. However, it has one distinctive advantage over competing technologies: it is more affordable to manufacture. This single advantage drives its popularity among makers of various devices and by the end …

SK Hynix, the world’s second largest producer of dynamic random access memory, said this week that it would begin to mass-produce DRAM using 20nm fabrication process in the second half of the year. The new manufacturing technology will help the company to better address the needs of the high-end memory …

SK Hynix has demonstrated a wafer with second-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) at the CeBIT trade-show in Hannover, Germany. The new memory chips will emerge on the market sometimes next year and will increase memory bandwidth and memory capacities for graphics cards and other applications. The first-generation HBM (HBM1) stacks four …

Micron Technology on Monday began the expansion of its Singapore NAND flash memory fabrication facility. The company started to build a new fab that will cost $4 billion and will start production in fiscal 2017. The new fab is expected to produce innovative 3D NAND flash (co-developed with Intel) as …

Samsung Electronics this week said that it had started to mass produce a family of NAND flash memory devices for mobile applications that are compliant with the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard. The new chips will be used for smartphones and tablets and will enable SSD-class performance on mobile …

Even though Samsung Electronics plans to increase its manufacturing capacities for dynamic random access memory later this year, analysts believe that this will not create an oversupply on the DRAM market. The reasons for that are transitions to bigger memory dies as well as growing demand for higher memory capacities …