Samsung has begun shipping 667MHz DDR 2 SDRAM chips, and claimed it was the first memory maker to mass-produce this type of memory.

The South Korean giant is offering 256Mb and 512Mb devices now, with a 1Gb part due later this year. The chips are fabbed at 90nm, it said.

Indeed, on the DRAM spot market, 512Mb DDR 2 parts are on average cheaper than 512Mb DDR chips, according to DRAMeXchange. Contract and spot DDR prices are on the rise, while DDR 2 pricing remains stable, the organisation noted today.

Samsung's announcement comes just over a month after Rambus began legal proceedings against the company, accusing it of violating 25 patents Rambus holds relating to DDR 2 technology. Samsung promptly countersued Rambus, which in turn added Samsung to an existing complaint filed earlier this year in which it accuses a number of memory makers of conspiring against it. ®

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