Samsung yesterday said it has begun mass-producing 1Gb DDR SDRAM chips. It added that the parts were the first of their kind to receive Intel validation.

The 1Gb chips are fabbed at 100nm (0.1 micron) and punched out on 300mm wafers. Available in 266MHz and 333MHz speeds - for PC2100 and PC2700 memory, respectively - the chips finally make possible 4GB DIMMs. Samsung said it has produced 2GB unbuffered DIMMs and - interestingly - SO-DIMMs.

That should help drive down the cost of high-capacity notebook memory, allowing users with otherwise limited RAM expansion opportunities to start bunging in 1GB modules and higher.

About time, too. If you want a 1GB PC2100 SO-DIMM today, memory specialist Kingston Technology will charge you $1188 for it.

Samsung expects demand for 1Gb chips to ramp up significantly through the rest of 2003 and beyond. ®