GIGABYTE Technology Co. LTD., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today launched the latest GIGABYTE unique technology: Ultra Durable VGA. GIGABYTE latest innovative technology-Ultra Durable VGA features 2 oz copper PCB board, Samsung/Hynix memory, Japanese solid capacitor, Ferrite Core Chokes, and Low RDS (on) MOSFET to deliver incredibly low GPU temperature, unrivaled overclocking capability, low power switching loss, and guaranteed longer life. Compared with traditional graphics accelerators, Ultra Durable VGA graphics accelerators can lower GPU temperature by 5%~10%, lower power switching loss by 10%~30%, and increase overclocking capability by 10%~30%. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA graphics accelerators can provide truly both "high-performanced" and "green" graphic card resolutions.

Rambus Inc., one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in high-speed memory architectures, today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has granted its request for supplemental damages following an earlier jury verdict finding nine Rambus patents valid and infringed by Hynix SDRAM products. According to the order, Hynix is to pay Rambus royalties of 1% for SDR SDRAM products and 4.25% for DDR SDRAM products made, used, or sold in the United States after December 31, 2005. DDR SDRAM products include DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, GDDR SDRAM, GDDR2 SDRAM, GDDR3 SDRAM, and DDR SGRAM. These supplemental damages are in addition to those previously awarded in the amount of $133M for Hynix's infringement through December 31, 2005.

Hynix forms one of the top-tier DRAM manufacturers. On Sunday, the company made it official that its new 1 Gb (128 MB) DDR3 memory chip built on the new 40 nm silicon fabrication process, will enter mass production by the third quarter, and be available to manufacturers soon after. The chip (model: H5TQ1G83CFR) operates with a top-speed of 2,133 Mbps, at a wide range of voltage.

Using the three-dimensional transistor technology, the company has stepped-up productivity by more than 50% over its current DRAM chips built on the 50 nm process. The new technology is said to minimize electric leakages and reduces overall power consumption of the DRAM chip. The new 1Gb memory chip meets Intel's DDR3 DRAM specification compliance and the memory module will be examined for certification by Intel.

Hynix Semiconductor announced it has developed the world's first 2Gigabit mobile DRAM using 54nm process technology. This product provides twice as much storage capacity over current 1Gb mobile solution which has been the highest density offered among the mobile DRAM products in MCP(Multi Chip Package), PoP(Package on Package) platform. It boasts maximum operating speed of 400Mbps(Megabits per second) at 1.2V power supply and processes up to 1.6 Gigabytes of data per second with a 32-bit I/O. Moreover, the new product consumes less power than existing memory solutions.

Sources in the industry point out that the 7 GT/s GDDR5 memory chip made by Hynix (model: H5GQ1H24AFR), which was announced earlier in this week, would make it to several major graphics board SKUs by both AMD and NVIDIA. The two companies have chosen TSMC and its 40nm fabrication process as the foundry partner for their upcoming 40nm graphics processors, namely AMD RV870 and NVIDIA GT212.

Both these chips would feature GDDR5 memory bus capabilities, and there are indications of the 7 GT/s DRAM chip being incorporated into graphics boards based on these GPUs. Additionally, there is also word that AMD will be using the said DRAM chip in its current flagship graphics card, the Radeon HD 4870 X2 in the near future. Both AMD and NVIDIA are expected to have taped out their 40nm GPU designs within Q1, 2009.

DRAM major, Hynix has announced the depelopment of 7 GT/s GDDR5 memory chips for use by the visual-computing industry. These chips are built on the company's 54nm silicon fabrication technology.

The 1 Gb (128 MB) chips labelled H5GQ1H24AFR operate at the fastest speeds so far: 7 Gbps (or GT/s), which is a 40% boost in speeds compared to the older 5 GT/s chips already in production. The chip handles up to 28 GB of data per second across a 32-bit wide interface. The incorporation of new fab. processes also means reduced power consumption at 1.35V power supply. The JEDEC-standard 1Gb GDDR5 graphics DRAM chip targets high-end applications such as game consoles and graphics cards. The company will commence volume production in the first half of 2009.

Among the other hardware demonstrated at IDF, Hynix Semiconductor also made a shocking release of what's believed to be the world's first 16GB 2-Rank R-DIMM. Using MetaRAM's new DDR3 technology, Hynix's new 16GB (HMT32GR7AER4C-GD) and 8GB (HMT31GR7AER4C-GC) 2-rank DIMMs can triple DDR3 memory capacity in today's servers and workstations. DDR3 MetaRAM is similar to the previous generation of DDR2 technology that enables significantly more memory in a server. An added benefit of the DDR3 MetaRAM technology is that enables larger memory capacity without negatively impacting the operating frequency of the DDR3 memory channel. It is the only technology that has been demonstrated to run 24GB of DDR3 SDRAM in a channel at 1066 million transactions per-second (MT/s). Using 3 of 16GB DIMM, users can achieve 48GB per channel running at 1066 MT/s, while other competing solutions max out at 16GB per channel at 1066MT/s. Later on during the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco Intel will demonstrate a server with 160GB (10 slots) of Hynix's DDR3 R-DIMMs.

Hynix Semiconductor and Numonyx B.V. today announced a five-year agreement to expand its joint development programs for the fast-growing NAND flash memory segment. The companies will broaden NAND product lines and bring future product and technology innovations designed to address challenges facing NAND technology over the next five years.

Admidst the a virtual arms race between the two giants of the discrete graphics industry, information trickles about the memory configurations that the mid-range RV730 (Radeon HD4650 / HD4670) and entry-level RV710 (Radeon HD4450 / HD4470) come in.

NordicHardware reports that two different GDDR3 memory configurations could be seen with RV710. Both configurations operate at 800MHz, but the density varies from 512MB Hynix memory to 1024MB Samsung chips. This points to that the HD4450 and HD4470 models will be separated by GPU clock. RV730 offers a bit more variation with three different clock frequencies and two different densities. One 700MHz 512MB model, and two 900MHz models, of which one sports 512MB Hynix memory and one sports 1024MB Samsung chips. And finally, there is one model with 512MB Hynix memory operating at 1000MHz. It is assumed that the Radeon HD 4650 is the 700MHz cards, while the 4670 model is represented by the three remaining cards.

With announcements coming in from of rolling out Solid State Drives (SSD) and that it would become a prominent player in the SSD business, Seagate is still in requirement of trade relationships with a NAND Flash manufacturer, add to that it doesn't have production facilities of its own.

This has gotten analysts to speculate on where Seagate will source its chips from, a possibility being buying Intel's share of the Intel-Micron JV. Such a buy-out would set Seagate back by close to $1 bn. Another possibility would be to acquire SanDisk or Hynix (Hyundai) which focus on making entry-level solid state drives, but are a major players in the overall NAND flash market. If it will be SanDisk, Hynix or any other flash maker remains to be seen, but it wouldn't come as a surprise if Seagate announces the acquisition of a flash company soon.

Hynix Semiconductor and ProMOS Technologies today announced the signing of the Amendment to strengthen their existing strategic alliance. According to the Amendment, Hynix licenses to ProMOS 50 nanometer-class DRAM stack process technology, while ProMOS offers to Hynix such DRAM products from its 300mm fab capacity. To achieve timely technology transfer, Hynix plans to commence the government filing process immediately. Additionally, Hynix plans to cooperate with some financial investors to buy 8%-10% portion of shares in ProMOS through private placement to strengthen their long-term cooperation relationship.

VR-Zone has learned that NVIDIA is planning to add Hynix as a second memory supplier for GeForce 9800 GTX. All current GeForce 9800 GTX graphics cards including the overclocked models are equipped with Samsung K4J52324QE 0.8ns GDDR3 memory chips. A second batch of 9800 GTX cards is now being reported to enter the market with Hynix HY5RS123235BFP 0.8ns GDDR3 parts and different BIOS version.

Hynix Semiconductor today introduced the world's first and fastest 1 Gigabite mobile LPDDR2. This product meets JEDEC standard and is expected to lead international LPDDR2 standard. 1Gb LPDDR, Low Power DDR2, is built on the Company's leading edge 66nm process technology. It boasts maximum operating speed of 800Mbps at 1.2V power supply. It consumes less power but operates at a faster speed than mobile DDR. With the fastest speed and small form factor package of 9mm x 12mm,, it is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of mobile applications which demand high memory density and fast operating speed features. This new product has function of Hynix's 'One Chip Solutions' and it allows Hynix the flexibility of offering wire bonded options to meet the specific needs of the customer by combining SDRAM/DDR DRAM interfaces, and x16/x32 organizations on a single chip. Hynix plans to start mass production of LPDDR2 in the fourth quarter of this year to meet the increasing demand for high performance mobile applications.

Hynix plans to produce 54nm-based DRAM chips this year on schedule, saying this will "reduce the technology gap with Samsung," according to the company's CEO, quoted by the Korea Times. The company schedules to start production of 54-nano DRAMs in the third quarter, while Samsung is expected to commence production of 56-nano DRAMs near the end of the second quarter. The company also plans to gradually increase its use of 300mm chip fabrication lines to account for 95 percent of its entire DRAM production by 2012. The company runs three 300mm lines and five 200mm lines in its two plants in South Korea and one in China.

While memory prices continue to fall, allowing gamers and hardware enthusiasts everywhere to splurge on memory, it would seem as though this "golden age" of cheap memory is coming to an end. Hynix, mainly thanks to ridiculously low DRAM prices, reported a net loss of a half billion dollars last year. Hynix is also none too happy to announce that they do not expect things to get much better. DRAM prices are low/falling, and are expected to stay that way for quite some time. There are currently rumors that Hynix may consider exiting the memory business, despite strong sales in NAND flash technology.

Hynix Semiconductor (Hynix) announced it has received the validation from Intel Corporation on its 1Gb DDR2 DRAM with company's leading edge 50nm-class process technology. The production efficiency of Hynix's 50nm-class 1Gb DDR2 DRAM products is increased by 50% over its 60nm-class process technology and the lower costs of production are expected accordingly. Hynix adopts new technologies of "three-dimensional transistor" architecture and "W-DPG (Dual Poly Gate)" technology. These technologies significantly minimize leakage to further reduce overall power consumption and increase performance by optimizing its speed. The adoption of technologies will be extended to DDR3 DRAM and the mass production of validated 1Gb DDR2 DRAM as well as DDR3 products will begin in the second half of next year. As the demand for higher capacity memory is expected to grow, Hynix plans to enhance capacity on the 50nm-class products in order to suit needs from the market. Hynix's 50nm-class DDR2 DRAM processing technology will be also used in producing various applications not only mass storage PC DRAM but also Graphic DRAM, Mobile DRAM.

Hynix Semiconductor today introduced the industry's first 1 Gigabit GDDR5 Graphics DRAM. The industry's first 1Gb GDDR5 from Hynix is also the fastest and highest density graphics memory available. It operates at 5Gbps bandwidth and processes up to 20 Gigabytes of data per second with a 32-bit I/O, ideal in applications with high definition video and cinematic and photo-realistic graphics content. A bandwidth of 20 Gigabytes per second offered by the Hynix 1Gb GDDR5 can process more than 20 hours of DVD quality video.

Ovonyx and Hynix Semiconductor today announced that they have entered into a long-term license agreement for memory products under Ovonyx' patents and intellectual property relating to Phase Change Memory (PCM) technology. The agreement also provides that Ovonyx will actively support Hynix' program to develop phase change memory products.

South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor, the world's second-biggest maker of memory chips, said it stopped supplying computer memory chips through the spot market to defend against plummeting prices. Hynix will stop supplying memory chips effective September, without providing exact date. According to research firm Dramexchange, spot prices of some key DRAM chips have declined more than 10 percent over the last 10 days alone.

Hynix Semiconductor today announced it has received validation on its DDR3 memory components and modules from Intel. The newly-validated DDR3 products are 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Unbuffered-DIMMs manufactured on 80nm process technology. These devices have operating speeds from 800MHz to 1066MHz with reduced voltage to 1.5V. These speeds are offered in latency combinations of 5-5-5 and 6-6-6 for the 800MHz, and 7-7-7 for the 1066MHz memory modules. Mass production of the 1GB DDR3 on the 80nm line will begin in the third quarter of this year. Hynix plans to manufacture the product on a 66nm process beginning in late 2007.

Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Toshiba Corporation announced today that they have signed patent cross licensing and product supply agreements covering semiconductor technology. Under the agreements, Hynix and Toshiba will be cross licensed to use one another's semiconductor patents. The agreements settle all pending patent-related litigation between the companies in the U.S. and Japan, including that before the U.S. International Trade Commission. Mr. OC Kwon, Senior Vice President, Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said, "We believe the agreements will become a good foundation for our two companies to build a mutually beneficial business relationship in the future." Mr. Shozo Saito, Corporate Vice President and Executive Vice President of Semiconductor Company, Toshiba Corporation, said, "The signing of the agreements is a positive step for both companies. With litigation behind us, and through these agreements, we can now strengthen our respective businesses."

Hynix Semiconductor, Inc., today announced it has developed the industry's fastest 185MHz 512Megabit mobile DDR SDRAM with ECC (Error Correction Code). The built in ECC, similar to that used in NAND Flash, ensures data integrity while reducing current consumption by almost 50%. At 185MHz clock speed, the fastest in the industry, a throughput of up to 1.5Gbytes of data per second can be attained with a 32-bit I/O. The ECC feature in this product allows for the extension of the refresh interval which in turn significantly reduces power consumption. Additionally, the 512Mb ECC Mobile DDR offers the traditional low power features necessary for a wide range of mobile applications.

Hynix Develops 2GB DDR2-800 Memory Modules

Hynix has developed a 2GB DDR2 memory module with operating speeds of 800 MHz, which makes it the world's first in memory industry. The 2-Gbyte DDR2 module is based on 90-nanometer process technology using advanced wafer-level packaging technology (WLP). Hynix did not say precisely when the new memory modules will start mass production.

A batch of about NT$20 million (US$306,000) worth of DDR chips (from Hynix Semiconductor) was stolen yesterday in Taoyuan, Taiwan. The 20 boxes filled with DDR chips were robbed while in transit, with most of the chips being 400MHz frequency parts. This DDR chips were being delivered to distributors, though ownership of the chips is still unknown. A Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report cited sources as saying that three robbers staged an accident with the truck transporting the chips, and then subdued the driver using a machete and taser gun. The thieves were seen headed to the airport and the batch of chips are likely headed to China, the report said.

Hynix Semiconductor has developed the world's first 800 MHz memory module using 60nm 1GB DDR2 DRAM. The chipmaker received approval for its 60nm DRAM chip from Intel in October and has now developed the 60nm DDR2 memory module this time, passing Intel's Advanced Validation Lab (AVL) test. The new memory chip comes in two types: one with a speed of 800 MHz and the other with a speed of 667 MHz. It also helps hike productivity by a whopping 50 percent, the chipmaker says. In addition, such cutting edge technologies as a "three-dimensional" transistor and three-layered metal allocation boost storage capacity and processing speeds. Hynix is expected to start mass production in the first half of 2007 and use the new memory chip in making high density DRAM components and high performance products such as graphic and mobile DRAMs.