Samsung's memory chip, MoviNAND

Samsung Electronics on Monday said it has developed a high-density, eight-gigabyte memory chip dubbed the moviNAND which it will begin mass-producing in the second quarter of the year.

The moviNAND consists of a NAND flash memory chip and a multimedia card controller. The new product provides twice the capacity and performance of a 4GB version and will enable electronics makers to develop smaller mobile devices in a wider variety of designs.

The moviNAND follows the standards for high-density embedded flash memory applications developed by the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) and MMCA (MultiMediaCard Association.)

The value of the total market volume of the new product is predicted to reach about US$4 billion over the next four years. Samsung expects the moviNAND will gain popularity with cellphone and navigator makers with its high-density, high-speed, but low-noise performance.

Samsung GDDR4 with nanometer production technology

Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronicsclaims to have increased the data transfer speed of the world’s fastest graphics memory – GDDR4 (Graphics Double Data Rate, version 4) – by two-thirds. Graphics memory processes video images in desktop PCs, notebooks and workstations to move large volumes of high-definition or low-resolution video simultaneously.

Using 80-nanometer production technology, the new 4Gb/s memory running at 2.0GHz is 66% faster than today’s fastest commercially available memory – the 2.4Gb/s GDDR4, according to Samsung. The Samsung 4Gb/s graphics memory, offered in 512Mb density, has a 32-bit data bus configuration.

“Our new GDDR4 memory will add even more zip in video applications, making gaming, computer-aided design and video editing faster than ever before,” said Mueez Deen, marketing director, graphics memory, Samsung Semiconductor. “This will enable ultra-smooth movements in animation and make games incredibly realistic, resulting in a truly immersive user experience.”

The new GDDR4, which is ready for customer sampling this month and, according to Samsung, has already engendered interest from manufacturers.