2001/03/06
(03/06/01, 11:17 a.m. EST) TOKYO－Nanya Technology Corp.'s wish to ride a mass migration to double-data-rate (DDR) memory this year got a boost from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Via Technologies Inc., which have validated Nanya's DDR SDRAM modules. But with spot memory prices dropping below $2 for the 64-Mbit density, Nanya is banking on a third-quarter recovery in demand to keep the production schedule for its ambitious 12-inch fab on track for 2003.
Smart Modular Technologies Inc. has validated Nanya's PC2100 128-Mbyte modules with DDR266A for use with the Via Apollo Pro266 and AMD 760 chip sets. Smart Modular has also validated Nanya's 128-Mbit and 256-Mbit discrete DDR memories. The AMD and Via chip sets allow system designers to incorporate DDR SDRAM into their computers to support system bandwidth to 2.1 Gbytes per second. Nanya currently ships DDR 200, 266B, and 266A devices in 128-Mbit and 256-Mbit densities, and 128-, 256-, and 512-Mbyte unbuffered and registered dual-in-line memory modules (DIMMs) at speeds of PC1600/2100, CL2 and CL3.
As Nanya gears up to try to take full advantage of DDR penetration of the server market, the company claims it is already shipping PC2100 modules featuring DDR 266A SDRAMs in volume. The company plans to ramp to 10 million 128-Mbit equivalent units per month in the third quarter and to 15 million units by the end of the year, according to Ken Hurley, president of subsidiary Nanya Technology USA.
"We believe we are the first ones out who can get a high yield at 266A, and the feedback we are getting is that our 266A is leading the pack," he said.
"We are achieving above 80 percent yields with the DDR 226A for both 128-Mbit and 256-Mbit devices," said Steve Wang, director of product marketing for Nanya Technology USA. "We can achieve the highest density at the fastest speed and are already shipping product in mass production."
Taking about a 5 percent share of the world market right now, DDR makes up a tiny but relatively lucrative portion of the memory market. Nanya is banking on DDR migrating into up to 30 percent of PC desktops by the end of 2001 and into about 50 percent of all desktops by the middle of next year, Hurley said.
"The server market is proving the highest growth market, but DDR will really start up from the fourth quarter, it will be the new standard. Meanwhile, AMD and Via are going great guns. We're seeing tremendous opportunities and a great market in Taiwan," he said.
Being a leader of the DDR pack and migrating the memory beyond high-end PCs into more servers is vital for Nanya, as the company failed to make money on PC133 and EDO RAM, said Bert McComas, an analyst with Inquest Market Research (Gilbert, Ariz.).