NEC ramps up DRAM production. nec ramps up dram production. By putting money into two domestic memory fabs, NEC Corp. plans to double its production of 128MB DRAMs over the next year. NEC is investing $828 million, up from $508 million last year, to increase production of 128MB synchronous DRAMS, 128MB and 144MB Direct Rambus DRAMs and, to a lesser extent, 256MB SDRAMs. NEC is targeting full production by March of next year, when it expects the price of 64MB DRAMs and 128MB DRAMs to reach parity....

Two heavyweights in the memory chip market - NEC and Hitachi - have announced details of their joint venture to create next-generation DRAMs. Two heavyweights in the memory chip market - NEC and Hitachi - have announced details of their joint venture to create next-generation DRAMs. The equally-owned venture will develop proprietary general-purpose DRAMs, based on 0.13-micron manufacturing technology. The new company also will sell existing DRAM chips developed separately by NEC and Hitachi, marketing the products under a new, unified brand in domestic and foreign markets....

World DRAM prices in freefall. world dram prices in freefall. The spot price for DRAMs continues to fall in North America, Europe and Asia.The worldwide DRAM price survey conducted by ICIS-LOR, based in London, Houston and Singapore, showed that the 30-day rolling average of 64MB DRAM (PC100, 8M x 8) prices for large users between Oct. The spot price for DRAMs continues to fall in North America, Europe and Asia. The worldwide DRAM price survey conducted by ICIS-LOR, based in London, Houston and Singapore, showed that the 30-day rolling average of 64MB DRAM (PC100, 8M x 8) prices for large users between Oct. 21 and Nov. 19, was $10.82 in North America, $11.19 in Europe and $10.33 in Asia....

The five leading DRAM makers - Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Microelectronics, Micron Technology, Infineon Technologies, and the new NEC Hitachi Memory - have joined Intel in an alliance to develop a next-generation DRAM to succeed the upcoming Double Data Rate-2 memory architecture. The five leading DRAM makers - Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Microelectronics, Micron Technology, Infineon Technologies, and the new NEC Hitachi Memory - have joined Intel in an alliance to develop a next-generation DRAM to succeed the upcoming Double Data Rate-2 memory architecture. DRAMs based on the DDR-2 architecture are expected to hit the market in 2002 to 2003, followed by a new DRAM architecture in 2004 or 2005. Intel tried to dictate the choice of Direct Rambus DRAMs for the current generation of memory, but delays forced it to accept competing PC-133 SDRAMs and DDR SDRAMs promoted by chip makers and many computer manufacturers....

Samsung ramps 0.17-micron Rambus DRAMs. samsung ramps 0....

Kentron doubles DDR DRAM bandwidth. kentron doubles ddr dram bandwidth. This month at the Platform Conference, the company will demonstrate a technique for doubling double-data-rate DRAM bandwidth using common field-effect transistor (FET) switches. The company says its "quad-band" memory technology will amplify DRAM bandwidth of 100-MHz (effectively 200-MHz) double-data-rate DDR DRAM from 1.6 gigabytes per second to 3.2 GBytes. Moreover, Kentron says the technology will be in use by late 2001 and will scale for later evolutions of DDR DRAM memory. Kentron's QBM uses an external switching mechanism and EE Times says it could help DDR compete against Rambus DRAMs for main Pentium 4 memory....

Toshiba to make more Rambus DRAM. toshiba to make more rambus dram. As previously indicated, Japanese electronics com Toshiba Corp. says it will increase Rambus DRAM production to eight million units a month by September from 2.3 million units while cutting output of conventional DRAMs in half to around 5 million. A report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun also reported that NEC Corp. will increase Rambus DRAM production 150 percent to five million per month in Japanese, British and Chinese plants. A related article by Terho Uimonen of the IDG News Service puts forth the proposition that the current upsurge in Rambus DRAM's currency is a temporary situation that will change when DDR SDRAM production levels increase and prices fall....

Samsung, Infineon, Micron push low-power mobile DRAM. samsung. Samsung, Infineon and Micron have all launched low-power DRAM memories aimed at the next-generation of mobile systems and cell phones. Samsung, Infineon and Micron have all launched low-power DRAM memories aimed at the next-generation of mobile systems and cell phones. Infineon Technologies AG and Micron Technology Inc. also announced low-power synchronous DRAMs for battery-operated handheld systems....