BOISE, Idaho -- Micron Technology Inc. expects to start shipping double data rate (DDR) 334-MHz PC2600 SDRAM modules--the fastest DDR memory yet--in the second quarter of 2001, an official said today.
Jeff Mailloux, Micron's DRAM marketing manager, said the company is currently shipping 334-MHz DDR chips to graphics-card makers, as well as 374-MHz and 400-MHz DDR SDRAM chips. For PC modules, he said, Micron is working on packaging the 334-MHz DDR in a new fine-pitch ball grid array (BGA) package, as well as modifying some timing signals on the chip itself.
He expected a prototype PC2600 module would be finished soon. After testing and qualification, the new highest-speed DDR module would be ready to ship in the second quarter of next year, said Mailloux in an interview with EBN.
Mailloux claimed that Micron has shot up to become the No. 2 DRAM module supplier in the world, behind Samsung Electronics Co. "We increased our memory module sales 179% in 1999 over the previous year, to gain almost a 12% global market share. Modules account for nearly 80% of all our SDRAMs shipments," Mailloux said.
Micron's module shipments are expected to increase about the same rate of the company's 80% bit rate growth this year, according to Mailloux. "Modules will have a somewhat lower portion of total DRAM shipments because our sales to non-module users, such as graphics, networking and peripherals, are increasing so rapidly," he said.
The Micron memory official said the explosive growth in modules resulted from OEM customers who now prefer to get most of their SDRAMs in modules rather than as individual chips. In addition, Micron can better control the myriad technical parameters that affect SDRAM performance if it also makes and tests the modules, he added.
Micron is already using the fine-pitch BGA packaging for its most advanced SDRAMs to get higher performance. "With the smaller fine-pitch BGA package size, we can get away from stacking TSOP [thin small-outline package] SDRAM packages in modules to get faster speed and better thermal management," Mailloux said.
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