/ 19 October 2006

Samsung expects record DRAM chip sales this year

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chipmaker, said on Thursday it expects its sales of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips to hit a record $10-billion this year.

The South Korean firm also announced it is developing a new DRAM chip expected to boost the world market to $55-billion by 2011.

”In the 23rd year of the DRAM business this year, what is most encouraging is that Samsung’s DRAM sales are expected to be $10-billion,” Samsung said in a statement.

”It will be the first for any single semiconductor product to attain the 10-billion-dollar sales goal.”

Samsung’s DRAM business has grown 24% annually since it was first launched in 1984, the statement said.

Samsung also announced it is developing the world’s first one-gigabit DRAM chip using 50-nanometer processing technology.

It said it would begin producing the new memory chip, which guarantees faster data-processing speeds, lower power consumption and improved performance, in the first quarter of next year.

”With mass production slated for 2008, the 50-nanometer DRAM chip is well positioned to become the mainstay of a DRAM market that is expected to be worth $55-billion by 2011,” the statement said.

One nanometer is one billionth of a meter and the smaller the number, the more capacity that can be put onto a single chip. – AFP