Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will begin producing DRAM chips using 40-nanometre technology this year, as the world's top memory chip maker looks to widen its lead in a sector suffering its worst-ever downturn.
Memory chipmakers are racing to migrate to thinner circuitry, which would enable them to squeeze more functions, power and memory onto each chip and cut unit costs. Samsung said in a statement on Wednesday it had developed the industry's first double data rate (DDR) two DRAM chip and module, produced by 40-nanometre - or 40 billionths of a metre - class technology.
It will begin bulk production of chips using the latest technology this year, starting from 2-gigabit DDR 3 chips and adopt the new technology to less premium products such as DDR 2 chips in 2010 as the migration proceeds.
Analysts however said the new technology would not benefit Samsung immediately. "Production from the 40 nanometre technology is unlikely to make up a meaningful portion in Samsung output this year. Fuller production will be in 2010," said James Song, an analyst at Daewoo Securities, adding that demand for high-performance chips also remained sluggish in the downturn.
Samsung said "productivity could increase by about 60 percent when the 40-nanometre technology is applied to 2Gb DDR 3 chips," compared to the 50-nanometre technology it is currently using.
In October, Japan's Elpida Memory Inc said it might freeze a plan for bulk production of 50-nanometre chips. Makers of DRAM chips, mainly used to power personal computers, and increasingly in mobile devides and game consoles, are reeling under a supply glut, tumbling chip prices and eroding consumer demand for electronic gadgets.
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