Elpida develops 4Gb SDRAM

Denser than not-very-dense memory.

Boffins working at Elpida have emerged from their smoke filled labs having created a 4Gb DDR3 SDRAM chip.

The memory is so dense that it thinks that the UK is going to get a decent government at the coming election. Well, perhaps not that dense, but it is the highest density DDR3 in the DRAM industry.

It uses the 40nm fab process, which means that it can use a third less power than two 40nm 2Gb DDR3 SDRAM chips with the equivalent memory capacity.

This means that servers, data centres and other large capacity memory systems will be able to reduce power consumption.

In a press release the company claimed its memory can operate at not only standard DDR3 1.5V but also at 1.35V to allow greater system power savings.

The 4Gb DDR3 SDRAM chips will be shipped for 32GB registered DIMMs. This means 72 4Gb DDR3 SDRAMs will be installed in 36 double-density packages.

There will be a new standard LRDIMM for servers, an 8GB ECC unbuffered DIMM for workstations, and an 8GB SO-DIMM for notebooks and digital consumer electronic products.

Sample shipments of 4Gb DDR3 SDRAM chips will be seen in the second quarter of calendar 2010, and Elpida expects to commence mass production in the third quarter. The chips will be made at its fab in Hiroshima.