Samsung DRAM ouput shifts to DDR 2

Samsung is finally producing more DDR 2 memory chips that DDR parts, the South Korean giant said yesterday.

Last month, DDR 2 accounted for around 40 per cent of the company's memory output, while the original double data-rate memory specification accounted for roughly 30 per cent, Samsung said.

The company claimed it has seen demand for DDR 2 grow by a factor of 30 over the past 12 months.

"The industry has been waiting for a clear indication that DDR 2 has become the dominant memory," said Tom Quinn, a Samsung US senior VP of memory sales and marketing, in a statement. "We are seeing an upsurge in interest in DDR 2 from system OEMs as well as system integrators."

Demand for DDR would "accelerate" into 2006, he added.

Samsung forecast in January this year that DDR 2 production would overtake DDR output in Q3, but since it controls its own output, this can be seen as a something of a self-fulfilling prophesy. Production of a given product can be ramped up in anticipation of demand as well as in response to it.

Still, the big DDR 2 sales ramp does appear to be with us. According to an EETimes report, market watcher De Dios & Associates reckons DDR 2 sales will almost triple next year to $18bn from $6.5bn this year. ®