Infineon posts DDR 3 prototype to Intel

Pre-standard version

Infineon has become the latest memory maker to produce a working DDR 3 device, even though the SDRAM specification has yet to be finalised.

The German company said yesterday it had shipped chips to "leading PC industry developers", by which it apparently means Intel.

Still it's early days yet. DDR 3 is not expected to be used in systems until the end of 2006, and the major memory makers, Infineon included, are not expecting to sample products until the second half of that year. Volume production will follow toward the end of the year, provided there are platforms available that support it - hence the need to get Intel on board.

DDR 3 isn't expected to outsell DDR 2 until 2008, according to market watcher iSuppli.

Samsung showed off what it claimed to be the world's first DDR 3 device, a 512Mb part, back in February. The South Korean company said it would sample the product early next year.

The Infineon device's specifications were not revealed, but the manufacturer did say the part supports a transfer rate of 1067Mbps. Eventually, its DDR 3 chips will shunt bits at 1600Mbps, the company forecast.

That's double the top-end of the DDR 2 specification. DDR 3 consumes less power too. It's set at 1.5V to DDR 2's 1.8V. ®

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