The Graphics Memory Industry Now Has Micron

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» 15 May 2009

The Graphics Memory Industry Now Has Micron

Micron, a company that just had the third biggest number of international sales for Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), is now aspiring to enter the DRAM chips market used for graphic processors developed by Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) ATI graphics unit and Nvidia.

Micron claims that the "DRAM for graphics processor use" market make up about 4% of the bits shipped into the entire DRAM market. That's because DRAM is usually utilized as the main memory in personal computers, otherwise known as Synchronous DRAM or SDRAM.

"Our upcoming 50-nanometer technology is very competitive when it comes to power consumption and performance," Micron's Vice-President of DRAM Marketing, Robert Feurie, shared in a phone interview last Thursday. He believes now is a good time for Micron to start talks with big enablers like AMD and Nvidia in order to begin some "design-ins" with them.

At any rate, Micron is making its debut into the graphics memory industry with the introduction of the Double Date Rate 3 (DDR3) memory. This is from the same family of RAM used for the main memory of PCs—an improved version of the PC memory's DDR2 format, if you will.

In the imminent future, Micron looks forward to developing more propriety graphics memory, which will be referred to as GDDR3 and GDDR5. "No decision has been made yet but we're looking into that very seriously," Feurle pledged.

At the outset, Micron is targeting the "middle class range" of the graphics memory market by having its DDR3 have a unique power consumption edge over GDDR3. The average DDR3 can drop its energy usage to 1.35 volts, which is always an impressive feat to a market looking for savings and more value for its money.

Alas, despite all their successes, Micron has come to the graphics memory market at an inopportune time. According to iSuppli, sales for the overall DRAM market has been dropping thanks to the current economical crisis, sliding 44% from the period a year earlier and 20% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter. Several DRAM manufacturers are facing or have already filed for bankruptcy. Hopefully, Micron's ambitious plans will help improve the industry somewhat.