Polish computer memory brand Goodram is launching a new external SSD called the HX200. Thanks to its parameters, the drive will interest a wide range of users, from mobile professionals to gadget lovers and those who store gigabytes of data in the form of photos, videos and documents.

With its unique colour, the drive will appeal to female users who appreciate style and elegance in their daily use of technology. The launch of the HX200 is manufacturer's next step towards providing innovative solutions combining functionality and aesthetics.

An Innovate UK project worth £1.1M has been awarded to the Lancaster University spinout firm Quinas, the global semiconductor company IQE and Lancaster and Cardiff Universities. Quinas will coordinate the ambitious project which is the first step towards volume production of the universal computer memory ULTRARAM invented by Lancaster Physics Professor Manus Hayne.

ULTRARAM has extraordinary properties, combining the non-volatility of a data storage memory, like flash, with the speed, energy-efficiency, and endurance of a working memory, like DRAM. Most of the funding for the one-year project will be spent at IQE which will scale up the manufacture of compound semiconductor layers from Lancaster University to an industrial process at the Cardiff based firm. This will involve IQE developing advanced capability for growth of the compound semiconductors gallium antimonide and aluminium antimonide for the first time. The project follows significant investment to boost the UK semiconductor industry and the establishment of the world's first compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales.

Samsung Electronics will be cutting back on memory chip production, following a worrying drop in its operational profits. Estimates for the first quarter point to a 96% year-on-year decline - the silicon mega-corporation's lowest profit result in 14 years (since the first quarter of 2009). Samsung's operating profits fell to 600 billion won ($456 million) in January to March 2023, from 14 trillion won the previous year. The company has confirmed that a slump in sales is the main cause behind the smaller margins - with a slow global economy and a drop in demand after the chip shortages of 2020 - 2022. Manufacturers of computer and server equipment have reduced expenditure on procurements of RAM and storage solutions.

In a statement released last week, the company confirmed that it was adjusting its manufacturing output in reaction to the drop in demand: "We are lowering the production of memory chips by a meaningful level, especially that of products with supply secured." Industry analysts in South Korean are foreseeing that Samsung's chip business will post heavy losses (into the billions of dollars) during the first three months of 2023. Samsung is expected to publish detailed financial results later this month. The analysts have spotted similar patterns at other South Korea-based memory chip markers - SK Hynix and Micron have recorded heavy financial losses across recent quarters.