Via, a leader of a DDR group that includes Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Micron Technology Inc., is bundling DDR chipsets and 128 MB DDR SDRAM modules, said William Lee, a spokesman of Taipei-based VIA.

The chipset company declined to give exact details of the rebate, but hopes the plan will help DDR win the memory race with its Rambus rival.

"We're hoping the bundling will help DDR SDRAM to become the mainstream in the market sooner than people have forecast," Lee said. "Also, we want to make sure that users can buy DDR at a very affordable price."

The demand for DDR SDRAM has not been as strong as the group expected, mainly due to the limited supply and high prices of DDR modules. Via's move is expected to boost demand and give incentives to DRAM makers to produce DDR SDRAM.

"The promotion plan will make the DDR products more attractive," said Andrew Lu, head of regional semiconductor research at Salomon Smith Barney in Taipei.

To be sure, some other analysts are cautious, saying the key point to watch is how soon DDR manufacturers will ramp up their volume.

Though Via refused to disclose the rebates, Taipei's Commercial Times reported that the chipset firm has teamed up with Taiwan's Nanya Technologies Inc. and Apacer Technology Inc. to sell DDR chipset and 128 MB DDR SDRAM module for $99 per set starting today.

That price is about 35% lower than the current market price, said the report, citing unnamed industry sources. Motherboard companies will receive the sets at an additional 10% off, or $90 per set, if they purchase a certain quantity, the report said.

Nanya claims to be one of the biggest suppliers of 128 MB DDR SDRAM in the world. The company is expecting to make 15 million DRAM a month from June, with half of that in DDR, said Charles Kau, an executive vice president of Nanya, which licenses its DRAM process technologies from IBM Corp.

Around the fourth quarter, Kau projected the monthly output will rise to 20 million DRAM, with 80 percent of those in DDR.Apacer is the DRAM module-manufacturing arm of the Acer Group The promotion plan would have a limited impact on Via's margins because the promotion cost is shared by Via as well as its DDR and DDR module partners, Lee said.