Elpida readies 6Gbps GDDR5

Elpida Memory, Inc., Japan's leading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), today announced that it had developed a 1-gigabit GDDR5 (product name: EDW1032BABG) that operates at a world-class high speed of 6Gbps. The new graphic memory (GDDR: Graphics Double Data Rate) device marks Elpida's first successful step in the GDDR market.

Applications for GDDR memory devices used with GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) are found not only in such graphic processing equipment as game consoles and PC graphics cards but also in equipment that require high-performance computing for use in such areas as science and technology, physical simulation, digital image processing and video conversion.

In August Elpida announced plans to enter the graphics DRAM business based on its acquisition of GDDR design assets from the German company Qimonda AG. The successful development of the new GDDR product in only three months using these design assets was made possible by close cooperation between Elpida's new Munich Design Center in Germany, an Elpida Japan-based technology team and engineers at Taiwan-based Winbond Electronics Corporation.

After concluding an evaluation at the Munich Design Center, sample shipments will start in December and mass production is expected to begin in the second quarter (April-June) of CY 2010.

Elpida is now involved in all areas of the DRAM market - commodity DRAMs, GDDR for the graphics market, high-speed XDR DRAM and Mobile RAM for mobile equipment. By becoming one of the few full-range suppliers Elpida expects to play an increasingly important role in the DRAM market with its "total memory solutions" approach.