A spokesman for Infineon (Munich, Germany) told EE Times Monday the company has shipped a functioning DDR3 device to the microprocessor giant. He did not know the part's memory capacity, however, and said the device was not yet fully compliant with JEDEC requirements.

The spokesman confirmed a press release stating Infineon would begin widespread sampling of DDR3 parts the second half of 2006, developing the parts with Nanya Technology Corp. Full DDR3 production is slated to begin the end of 2006, he added.

When sampling does begin, Infineon will use 90-nm process technology to produce the parts, but move to 70-nm technology once production begins, the spokesman said.

In February, Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced it had developed a prototype 512-megabit DDR3 chip slated to enter volume production in 2006.

Expected to offer twice the speed of current high-speed memory products, DDR3 parts are slated to be incorporated in leading-edge server, desktop, and notebook PCs.

Infineon stated its DDR3 device would initially be able to process data at 1067 megabits per second, later raising data transfer rate to 1600 megabits per second.

Power consumption for the DDR3 device is expected to be 1.5 volts, lower than the 1.8 volts of current memory parts, thus lowering power consumption and heat generation.