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Introduction
At a high level memory is just another type of storage medium like paper tape, punched cards, magnetic tape, floppy diskette, hard disk drive, CD, and DVD. These media types are used to store and retrieve data, code, images, audio and visual content and so forth. For each type of media there are corresponding devices for reading/playing and writing/recording. The underlying technologies include mechanical, magnetic, electric, optical and nanotechnology. The combination of storage media and devices are characterized by their
| Density
Bandwidth Latency Volatility Cost Updatability Resource reqs Durability |
Ruggedness
Removability Internal/external Packaging Random/Sequential Shareability Off-line/on-line |
Once upon a time one could say that the closer to the CPU the faster, the more expensive and the less capacity the storage device. Memory was the closest. The typical configuration of the PC AT, the successor to the PC and XT, had 8 MB of memory. Under DOS the personal computer was essentially a single user system executing a single application. Main memory contained portions of the operating system, program executable and application data. Various techniques enabled portions to be loaded into memory as need. Over time the operating systems evolved so that a single user could have multiple applications executing concurrently and later that several users could share the same personal computer. This drove the need for increased memory capacity for the pc. This combined with the proliferation of personal computers for home and business generated enormous demand for computer memory. The same phenomena were happening in the workstation and computer server arenas.
More recently we have the explosive growth in the market for hand-held, mobile computerized devices such as cell phones, digital cameras, PDAs, and CD and MP3 players. Today end users want to record and play digital images, audio and video files. This translates into the need for storage devices with smaller footprints, greater capacity, lower power consumption and faster speeds than found in personal computers. With the emergence of non-volatile flash memory the previous distinctions between memory and data storage have been blurred.
Memory Types
Memory types can be divided into two main camps: volatile memory that loses its content unless continuously connected to a power source and non-volatile memory that retains its content even after the power source is disconnected or turned off. Volatile memory can be divided into dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and static random access memory (SRAM). Here the term random means that an individual memory cell can be accessed directly rather than sequentially. The most common forms of non-volatile memory are EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) and Flash.
In DRAM, the most common form of RAM, each memory cell has a charge or lack of charge held in something similar to an electrical capacitor. A transistor acts as a gate in determining whether the value in the capacitor can be read or written. DRAM requires refreshing thousands of times per second to retain charge. Also, the process of reading data from the memory array drains these charges, so the memory cells must also be pre-charged before reading the data. In SRAM, instead of a capacitor-held charge, the transistor itself is a positional flip/flop switch, with one position meaning 1 and the other position meaning 0. SRAM uses multiple transistors, typically four to six, for each memory cell. SRAM does not require refreshing.
Computer main memory consists of DRAM which is relatively inexpensive and high-capacity. Cache memory is a part of the memory subsystem that stores the most frequently accessed data. The computer looks at cache memory before accessing main memory. Cache memory uses SRAM which is higher-speed, more expensive and larger in size than DRAM. Because of these characteristics cache memory typically has very limited capacity, say a few hundred KB. Memory caching is effective because most programs access the same data or instructions over and over. By keeping as much of this information as possible in SRAM, the computer avoids accessing the slower DRAM. Cache memory is sometimes described in levels of closeness and accessibility to the microprocessor. The level 1 (L1) cache is the fastest and smallest in capacity, normally between 16KB and 32KB. The L1 or internal cache is built into the same chip as the microprocessor. The level 2 (L2) cache is the second fastest and a bit larger in capacity, normally between 128KB to 512KB for PC usage. Larger computers sometimes have another cache between the L2 cache and main memory called an L3 cache that may range in size from 2 to 256 megabytes.
Extended Data Output RAM (EDO DRAM or EDO RAM) recognizes that most of the time when the CPU requests memory for a particular address, it's going to want some more addresses nearby. Instead of forcing each memory access to start afresh, EDO RAM retains the location of the previous access, thereby speeding access to nearby addresses.
RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory) technology introduced in 1990 is developed and licensed by Rambus Inc. to manufacturing partners. RDRAM is high performance memory currently operating at transfer speeds of 1200MHz. RDRAM combines conventional DRAM with a high-speed serial interface called the Channel. The Channel uses 16 pins (2 bytes) for a data path operating at an effective data rate of 8000 MHz per pin by transmitting data on both edges of the clock. Since each RDRAM device's datapath is as wide as the Channel (16 bits), a single device can service an entire memory request. Up to 32 RDRAM devices can be placed on each channel without a buffer. The Channel is common to all devices and incorporates the command bus, the data bus and a serial control bus for initialization.
SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory or Synchronous DRAM) is tied to the system clock and is designed to be able to read or write from memory in burst mode (after the initial read or write latency) at 1 clock cycle per access (zero wait states) at memory bus speeds up to 100 MHz or even higher
DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM) supports data transfers on both edges of each clock cycle, effectively doubling the memory chip's data throughput.
DDR SDRAM achieves a data transfer rate that is twice the clock frequency by employing 2-bit prefetch architecture.
DDR2 is nearly identical to DDR. It starts at 400MHz where DDR leaves off. The major improvement include: 4-bit rather than 2-bit prefetch, additive latency, enhanced registers, FBGA packaging, and On Die Termination (ODT) rather than on the motherboard to improve signal integrity in the system. DDR2 has a faster transfer rate, lower supply voltage, lower power consumption, and smaller package size. The 4-bit prefetch effectively doubles the data bus speed while keeping the internal bus speed the same from DDR1. DDR2 requires 240 pins versus 184 pins thereby rendering the two physically incompatible.
ROM (Read Only Memory) is non-volatile memory, which retains data even after the power is turned off. ROM is divided into two classes, depending whether the user can write data to the memory or not. MASK ROM is written during manufacturing process. Rewritable ROM, on the other hand, is divided into several types depending on the method used to write data. OTPROM (One Time Programmable ROM) is a type of ROM that can be written only once. EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM) is writable ROM on which data can be erased using ultraviolet light. Flash EEPROM (Flash Memory) is a special type of EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) that can be erased and reprogrammed in blocks instead of one byte at a time.
Flash memory gets its name because a block of memory cells are erased in a single action or "flash." There are two types of flash memory NOR and NAND. In flash memory, each memory cell looks similar to a standard transistor, except that it has two gates instead of just one. The usual gate is referred to as the control gate, while the second date is a floating gate placed between the control gate and the substrate. The floating gate is insulated by an oxide layer. Consequently any electrons placed on it get trapped there providing a basis for storing information. The electrons on the floating gate modify the transition voltage of the cell. A cell is "read" by placing a specific voltage on the control gate and measuring the electric current. The presence or absence of current maps to 1 or 0. The magnitude of the current can be used to support multi-level cell devices. For example, if there are four possible charge states than a 2-bit pattern can be recorded (Intel StratFlash Memory). A NOR flash cell is set by a hot-electron injection porcess and erased through Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling. NAND Flash uses tunnel injection for writing and tunnel release for erasing. NOR flash has relatively long write and erase times, random access read capability and an endurance of 100,000 erase cycles. NAND flash has faster erase and write times, higher density, and lower cost per bit than NOR flash, ten times the endurance but provides only sequential access to data.
Flash memory technology is used in removable storage devices such as CompactFlash (Sandisk) and SmartMedia (solid state floppy-disk card from Toshia) and MemoryStick (Sony). With these devices users can transfer all types of digital information and software between a large variety of digital systems to share, to communicate, to process, to hardcopy output and so forth. In today's New York Times there was an article entitled "From Storage, New Fashion" about USB Flash devices. USB flash drives with commercial names like JumpDrives, Pocket drives, Pen drive, and Thumb drives are about the size of a stick of gum. They can be worn as a lanyard around the neck, hung from a belt loop or put on a key chain. They currently can hold up to two gigs of data for about $190 - that's over 650 three-minute songs (33 hours) recorded as MP3s or about three times the content of a standard compact disc. They are portable, pluggable, rugged, rewriteable and have no moving parts. See USB Flash Drive Alliance fro more info.
Emerging and Future Memory Technologies
Each of today's popular memory technologies has its weaknesses. DRAM is volatile and difficult to integrate. SRAM is relatively expensive and volatile. Flash is non-volatile but has slower writes and limited write/erase cycles. Industry analysts suspect that flash memory production will hit a wall when it reaches 45-nanometer processes, which Intel's latest roadmap has scheduled for 2007. Several alternative memory technologies are presented below including FRAM, MRAM, Polymer memory and OUM. In each case there are a few small companies with promising technology and with alliances with and/or investment by major firms.
FRAM (FeRAM Ferroelectric RAM) is a form of non-volatile memory that stores data within a ferroelectric crystal. A FRAM memory cell is fabricated using an industry-standard CMOS process and consists of a ferroelectric crystal between two electrode plates to form a capacitor. When an electric field is applied to the ferroelectric crystal, its central atom gravitates to the field. As the atom moves within the crystal, it passes through an energy barrier, causing a charge spike. Internal circuits sense the charge spike and set the memory. When the electric field is removed from the crystal, its central atom remains in position, thereby preserving the state of the memory. As a result, FRAM requires no periodic refresh like DRAMs do, and in the event of power loss, FRAM is specified to retain its data for a decade. Current cell architectures include both a two-transistor/two-capacitor (2T/2C) cell structure and a one-transistor/one-capacitor (1T/1C) design. The later reduces the memory cell size by ~50%. FRAM can be used for either RAM or ROM. It is much faster than EEPROM or Flash, and consumes less operating power. It has low power consumption, low write voltage, ability to overwrite without erasing Also, because applying the electric field of an FRAM controls the electrical polarization of a ferroelectric capacitor, compared to writing by injecting hot electrons or using the tunnel effect, as is done on EEPROM and Flash Memory, the writing speed is faster by 1,000 times or more. Also, only between 1/1000 and 1/100000 the amount of power is required for writing. Furthermore, eliminating the need to use tunnel oxidized film extends the life of an FRAM, allowing 100,000 times more write cycles than that of Flash Memory or EEPROM.
FRAM memory is based upon two types of Perovskite (a ferroelectric material found in certain basaltic rocks) PZT (lead zirconate titanate) from Ramtron International and SBT (Strontium-bismuth tanatlate) from Symetrix both located in Colorado Springs. Ramtron is fabless relying on Fujitsu as a foundry.
PRAM or Polymer Memory is based upon the fact that certain sorts of polymers can be engineered to be "bistable"-ie, have two different molecular architectures that are both stable. It is then possible to switch a bistable polymer between its two different structural forms simply by applying an electric current. An ultra-thin coat of polymer is sandwiched between two arrays of electrodes at right angles to each other. The points where the electrode lines of one array intersect with the other become cells for storing memory bits. By placing a voltage between one horizontal and one vertical line, the bit of the polymer between the two changes the polarization of its permanent charge. The memory bit can be read back later by sensing this polarization through the same lines. The advantage of using a bistable polymer, as opposed to a crystalline material such as Perovskite, is that it can be stacked in layers that are 1/10,000 of a millimeter or less in thickness. There is no need to increase the device's footprint or the density of components to increase memory capacity. The driver circuitry, comprising column and row decoders, sense amplifiers, charge pumps and control logic, is located entirely outside the memory matrix.
One approach to production is to use standard fab facilities and CMOS processing equipment. The silicon wafer, with its control circuitry, is coated with layers of polymer memory film using spin-coating process. An alternate approach is to exploit the fact that polymers can be handled as liquids and employ continuous production methods and print them directly with the cross matrix of electrodes. Electrodes and driver circuitry can be made from conducting or semi-conducting polymers, thus enabling devices to be made solely from polymers.
A key player in Polymer Memory arena is Opticom ASA established in 1984 as a Norwegian R&D company within the emerging field of polymer electronics. The company went public on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 1997. The firm conducts its principal operating activities through its 87% owned subsidiary Thin Film Electronics ASA (TFE). The company is situated in Oslo, Norway, while research and development activities are located in Linkvping, Sweden, with a subsidiary design unit in New Mexico. In 1999 and 2001 Intel invested in TFE (13% ownership) and entered into a Licensing and Production Agreement. In June 2004 the company admitted that technical issues related to volume production had not been solved and sought additional investment. Due to financial difficulties the company restructured in June by closing down its US facility and laying off 50% of the TFE workforce. The firm also announced that TFE will no longer continue ongoing joint development work with Intel.
OUM ("ovonics" unified memory) sometimes called PCM for phase change memory employs thin films of the chalcogenide alloys (mixtures of germanium, tin and tungsten) similar to the film used to store information on commercial CD-RW and DVD-RAM optical disks. Chalcogenides have two states: a crystalline phase which conducts electricity, and an amorphous, disordered phase which works like an insulator. OUM uses a reversible phase-change as the data storage mechanism. Small transistors that control the flow of electrical current to the material's crystalline surface are used to apply a tiny amount of heat to individual crystals, modifying their state and thus their electrical resistance. The memory cell is set by the application of a current pulse above the low switching threshold. The programming pulse drives the memory cell into a high or low resistance state, depending on current magnitude. Information stored in the cell is read out by measurement of the cell's resistance. OUM devices can be programmed to intermediate resistance values for multi-state data storage. Studies show that OUM memory states can be addressed up to 10 trillion times. OUM technology uses a conventional CMOS process with the addition of a few additional layers to form the thin-film memory element.
A key player in OUM is Ovonyx, Inc. This company was formed in 1999 with a charter to commercialize the proprietary phase-change semiconductor memory technology developed by and exclusively licensed from Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. who has a significant (~40%) equity position in the firm. Ovonyx is focusing its efforts on the development and optimization of manufacturing processes and OUM device structures that are compatible with existing commercial memory products. Tyler Lowrey, company CEO/President, was formerly vice president and CTO and vice president COO of Micron. The company has strategic partnerships with Intel, BAE Systems and STMicroelectronics. ST has licensed the technology and the two companies have set up a joint-development team near Milan, Italy. In 1999 Intel invested in Ovonyx and also entered into a non-exclusive royalty-bearing license agreement and is jointly developing with Ovonyx the OUM technology at one of Intel's wafer fabrication facilities.
MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) technology combines a magnetoresistive device with standard silicon-based microelectronics. The basis for MRAM is "magnetic-tunnel junction" or MJT, a method of switching memory cells on and off quickly originally developed by IBM in the 1970s. The junction is an insulating layer only a few nanometers thick sandwiched between two ferromagnetic electrodes. Tunneling of electrons occurs when the magnetized directions in both layers are parallel and resistance is low. There is no tunneling when the directions are opposite and resistance is high. In practice one electrode is a fixed ferromagnetic layer that creates a strong pinning field to hold the magnetic polarization of the layer in one specific direction. The other ferromagnetic layer is free to rotate and hold polarization in one of two directions. MRAM is characterized by non-volatility, low voltage operation, unlimited read/write endurance and high-speed read and write operation. MRAM can potentially have the speed of SRAM, the storage capacity of DRAM, and the nonvolatility of flash memory. This means MRAM could potentially replace all of these memory architectures becoming a universal memory solution.
NVE Corporation develops and sells devices using "spintronics," a nanotechnology they helped pioneer, which utilizes electron spin rather than electron charge to acquire, store and transmit information. NVE was founded in 1989 primarily as a government contract research company. The firm is a licensor of spintronic MRAM to Freescale (the semiconductor products sector of Motorola, Inc), Honeywell and Cypress Semiconductor. The firm also manufactures spintronic sensors and couplers which are sold through a worldwide network of manufacturers' representatives and distributors. Revenues for the last two fiscal years ending March 31 were $12 million in F2004 and $9.5 million in F2003. The firm had profits of $2.1 million and $647 thousand respectively. For the quarter ending June 30th the firm has profit of $484 thousand on revenue of $2.9 million.
PMCm (Programmable Metallization Cell memory) utilizes solid state electrochemistry to attain large non-volatile resistance changes in a simple, highly scalable structure. PMCm uses a thin amorphous film with 2 metal contacts. It makes use of a little-known feature of some amorphous materials that they can incorporate relatively large amounts of metal and behave as solid electrolytes. Under appropriate bias conditions, the metal ions in the electrolyte can be reduced to form a conducting pathway through the material but the process can easily be reversed to recreate the insulating amorphous layer.
Axon Technologies Corporation is a technology creation and licensing company. It was founded in 1996 to develop and commercialize its revolutionary and proprietary PMCm technology. On September 22 Infineon became the second company after Micron to license the advanced memory and switching technology from Axon.
Memory Market
DRAM Marketing in $ and Megabits
The chart above shows the exponential growth in the consumption of DRAM memory measured in Magabits. It also shows the erratic revenue generated by this market. The underlying reason is the significant swings in memory pricing. There are even daily newsletters on the spot prices of memory, i.e. the sales price of fixed volumes for delivery in a single shipment at a specified time in the near future. I discussed the situation with Lane Mason, Memory Market Analyst with Denali. His firm publishes the Denali Memory Report (DMR), a monthly publication that contains trends, analysis, and news for the semiconductor memory industry. They also sponsor the MemCom conference series. He explained that the normal laws of supply and demand have not been allowed to work. Several major players in the memory business have lost billions of dollars. Normally, this would force consolidation and contraction in an industry. The survivors would be able to command reasonable prices for their products. Since this has not happened, there is an artificial oversupply of product. Firms are forced to lower price to get or retain business. This plays against the shifts on the demand side.
The memory market is a very difficult one as described by Micron in the following excerpt from its 10K filing.
"The semiconductor memory industry is characterized by volatile market conditions, declining average selling prices, rapid technological change, frequent product introductions and enhancements, difficult product transitions and relatively short product life cycles. Technology transitions, resulting from changing market demand, can make it very difficult to optimize product mix. In addition, diversification of the DRAM market continues, with diverse memory needs being driven by the different requirements of desktop and notebook PCs, servers, workstations, handheld devices, and communications, industrial and other applications that demand specific memory solutions."
| US$M | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Sales | 32,506 | 46,934 | 49,098 | 47,552 |
| Growth | 20.2% | 44.4% | 4.6% | -3.1% |
| % Semi | 19.5% | 22.0% | 21.2% | 20.7% |
| % IC | 23.2% | 26.1% | 25.3% | 24.8% |
Source WSTS
According to the June 4th press release from the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics the memory market is a fairly stable percentage of the overall semiconductor and IC markets. However, the WSTS forecasts significant drop-off in growth in 2005 and 2006.
2005 Revenue by Memory Type
During 2003 DRAM accounted for 51% of the revenue and 81% of the Megabytes, while Flash accounted for 36% of the revenue and 18% of the Megabytes. SRAM, a distant third, had 8% of the revenue and less than 1% of the Megabytes.
Major Vendors (abbreviated list)
The table below shows the rankings of the top four players in the overall semiconductor market and three memory submarkets.
| Rank | Semi | DRAM | SRAM | Flash |
| 1 | Intel | Samsung | Samsung | Samsung |
| 2 | Samsung | Micron | Cypress | Spansion |
| 3 | Renesas | Infineon | NEC | Intel |
| 4 | Toshiba | Hynix | Renesas | Toshiba |
| % Total | 30% | 78% | 53% | 65% |
Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd.
The Samsung Group consists of 27 independent affiliated companies but is not a legal organization such as a holding company. With headquarters in Korea the group has 285 overseas operations in 67 countries and employs about 173,000 people worldwide. The three core business sectors within the group are electronics, finance, trade and services. Samsung began as a provincial "general store" in 1938. Today the company is Korea's most profitable enterprise and a pioneer in global industries such as semiconductors, telecommunications, consumer goods, shipbuilding and heavy equipment. Samsung is a world leader in memory chips, LCDs, displays and hand-held phones. Samsung Electronics has 5 major business areas: Digital Media, Telecommunications, Digital Appliance, Semiconductor and LCD.
| KRW B | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Rev | 46,444 | 58,505 | 64,817 |
| NI | 3,055 | 7,053 | 5,962 |
| Rev | $26.9 | $33.2 | $36.4 |
| NI | $1.9 | $6.2 | $6.0 |
On September 20, 2004 Samsung announced that it has developed the industry's first 60nm 8-Gigabit (Gb) NAND Flash memory device for data storage medium such as low density mobile hard disks for mobile appliances. The 8Gb NAND flash memory will allow designs of up to 16Gigabytes of storage on a single memory card. That 16GBs of memory translates into storage of up to 16 hours of DVD quality video or 4,000 (five minutes per song) MP3 audio files.
The key to development at such high densities and fine circuitry design is a 3-D cell transistor structure and high-dielectric gate insulating technology that minimizes the interference level between cells. In addition, by utilizing the most widely used KrF lithography technology bit cost is reduced by 50 percent. On the same day Samsung announced the industry's first 2-Gigabit DDR2 SDRAM utilizing 80-nanometer (nm) process technology. The new DRAM technology breakthroughs include a 3-D transistor technology, recess channel array transistor (RCAT), and a new concept architecture process.
Micron Technology Inc.
Micron Technology, Inc. was founded and incorporated in 1978. The company Is headquarter in Boise, Idaho. Micron manufactures and markets DRAMs, Flash memory, CMOS image sensors, other semiconductor components, and memory modules.
| $M | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Sales | 2,575 | 6,362 | 3,936 | 2,589 | 3,091 |
| Net Income | (69) | 1,504 | (625) | (907) | (1,273) |
Net sales for 2003 increased by 19% as compared to 2002, primarily due to a 44% increase in megabits of memory sold. This increase was partially offset by a 17% decrease in average selling prices in 2003 as compared to 2002. Net sales for 2002 decreased by 34% compared to 2001, primarily due to the 53% decline in average selling prices. Megabits sold increased by approximately 45% in 2002 as compared to 2001.
DRAM sales represented approximately 96%, 95% and 87% of the Company's net sales in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. DDR accounted for 66% of DRAM sales in 2003 and 21% in 2002. Sales of Flash devices represented approximately 1%, 2% and 3% of the Company's net sales in 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. Approximately 82% of the Company's net sales for 2003 were to the computing market. Sales to both Dell and HP exceeded 10% of the Company's net sales. On a geographic basis the US accounted for 43%, Europe 24%, AP 20% and ROW 23%.
The company has a memory manufacturing joint venture (TECH Semiconductor Singapore Pte. Ltd.) in Singapore along with the Singapore Economic Development Board, Canon Inc. and HP. Subject to specific terms and conditions, the Company has agreed to purchase all of the products manufactured by TECH.
Infineon Technologies
Infineon Technologies is the semiconductor spin off from its parent Siemens. Once the Siemens Semiconductor Group, they were organized as a separate legal entity within the Siemens group as of April 1, 1999. The company went public in March 2000. The company develops, manufactures and markets semiconductor solutions and system solutions. The product portfolio comprises digital, mixed-signal, and analog IC's and discrete semiconductors. Infineon has around 32,000 employees.
| M euro | 1999F | 2000F | 2001F | 2002F | 2003F | 2003F |
| Revenue | 3,992 | 6,989 | 5,347 | 4,890 | 6,152 | $7,167 |
| Net Income | 61 | 1,126 | (591) | (1,021) | (435) | ($507) |
Fiscal Year ends Sept 30th
The Memory segment accounted for roughly 40% of sales in 2003F and 2002F up from 30% in 2001F. DRAM is responsible for the lion's share of memory revenue. In 2003F the Communication segment accounted for 34% of revenue and the Automotive and Industrial segment for 23%. EBIT for the memory segment the last three fiscal years was -938 M in 2001, -630 M in 2002 and 31 M in 2003.
For its most recent quarter Infineon's Memory Products segment reported revenues of Euro 811 million, an increase of 22 percent sequentially and of 43 percent compared to the same quarter of the last fiscal year. The significant sequential revenue increase was due primarily to higher average prices for chips.
In February 2003 Infineon and Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. of Israel formed a 70%/30% joint venture called Infineon Technologies Flash GmbH & Co. KG . The Dresden-based concern emerged from the Ingentix joint venture formed in 2001. The company's initial offering includes high-density, standard-packaged, stand-alone flash components, SD cards and MultiMediaCards.
In June at the VLSI Circuits Symposia in Hawaii, Infineon together with IBM presented the world's first 16-Mbit MRAM prototype. Infineon has been developing the MRAM chips in cooperation with IBM since the year 2000. The technology has been transferred recently to Altis Semiconductor, a 50/50 joint venture of the two companies formed in 1999 and located in France.
On September 15th Infineon announced that reached an agreement with the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division to plead guilty to a single and limited charge related to the violation of US antitrust laws in connection with the pricing in its Dynamic Random Access Memory business between July 1, 1999 and June 15, 2002. Under the terms of the agreement, Infineon has agreed to pay a fine of US$160 million in equal installments through 2009. The wrong doing related to certain OEM customer with whom Infineon is or has negotiated a settlement.
Hynix Semiconductor Inc
Hyundai Electronics Industries was established 1983 in South Korea. It had its IPO on the Korean stock exchange Dec 1996 and completed a merger with LG Semicon in October 1999. In March 2001 the company initiated disaffiliation from the Hyundai Group and changed its name to Hynix Semiconductor Inc.
| KRW TR. | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Rev | 8.9 | 3.98 | 3 | 3.62 |
| NI | (2.50) | (5.00) | (1.94) | (2.30) |
| Rev | $6.71 | $3.0 | $2.53 | $3.04 |
| NI | ($1.87) | ($3.82) | ($1.64) | ($1.93) |
For the quarter ending June 30th, Hynix had revenue of 1,698 Billion KRW of which 1,415 Billion KRW was in Memory an increase of 26%. The firm had a net profit of 620 Billion KRW. DRAM sales accounted for 78% of revenue, SRAM and Flash combined for 5% of revenue and System IC was 17%.
On June 4, 2004 Hynix announced that its Board of Director has approved the sale of System IC Business Unit
In 2000 Hynix faced a liquidity crisis due to plummeting DRAM prices and maturing debentures. In December 2000 Hynix raised 800 billion won in syndicated loans. When this turned out to be insufficient, creditors rolled over about ~2 trillion won of interest bearing debt. Hynix began to sell off non core assets. In October 2001, the Creditor Council extended the maturity of some debt, relieved Hynix of some repayment obligations and swapped 3 trillion won worth of debt for equity. In December 2002 the Creditor Council agreed to a 1.8 trillion won of debt-for-equity swap, a rollover of maturing debt, and changes in interest payment conditions. In addition, Hynix generated a 500 billion won of cash inflow by selling off non-core assets.
Hynix's competitors complained that these restructuring activities amounted to illegal subsidies from the Korean government that holds shares in Korean banks. The competitors appealed to appropriate national and international trade organizations. In February 2003 the European Commission found Hynix Semiconductor guilty of receiving illegal aid from the Korean government via banks controlled by the country. In order to restrict Hynix, the Commission imposed duties of 30-35% on shipments of its DRAM chips to the European Union. In late July 2003 the US International Trade Commission approved countervailing duties (CVD) payable to the U.S. Treasury of about 45% on DRAM chips imported by Hynix Semiconductor into the USA. In response Hynix aid that "it will increase the production of DRAMs in its Eugene, Oregon fab, which is not subject to the CVD duty imposition, to continue to provide quality DRAMs to its U.S. customers". In early August 2004 Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said there was sufficient evidence to open an investigation by the finance and trade ministries to explore whether Hynix's dynamic random access memory chips, or DRAM, are being sold in Japan at unfairly low prices because of government subsidies.
In March 7, 2003 Hynix announced the successful introduction of its commercially applicable FeRAM (Ferroelectric RAM), a non-volatile, low power, high-density and high speed memory ideal for next-generation mobile and SoC (System on Chip) applications
In April 2003 Hynix signed an agreement with STMicroelectronics to jointly develop state-of-the-art NAND flash memory technology and products, and establish a long-term supply for these advanced memory products
Legal Fights
Rambus designed RDRAM as an alternative to conventional DRAM technology in the early 1990s. RAMBUS has filed numerous patent lawsuits against DRAM manufacturers (Infineon, Hynix, Inc and Micron) that did not agree to license its technology. The firms responded that that Rambus had failed to inform a memory standards-setting committee, the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, that it held patents on certain technologies that were under consideration for the SDRAM standard, in violation of that committee's rules. On June 19, 2002 the FTC charged Rambus with violating federal antitrust laws. This was first discussed in an editorial Conflict of Interest - Semiconductor IP Patent Rights versus Standards last March. The FTC has since dismissed the case against Rambus who subsequently filed suit in May alleging that executives from four memory vendors colluded to set cost parameters for Rambus' RDRAM product and to restrict output of that product in order to raise its price and kill its chances of becoming a mainstream memory technology. Outside observers say that the complexity of RDRAM chipsets and the high prices of the memory chips were contributing factors. The legal battle continues.
Letter to the Editor
I enjoy reading and being informed by your editorials but I am moved to write because I observe that today's (Six Sigma and CMM) seemed to lose its way, especially from "Requirements" onward (though I liked the Kano diagram).
I was disappointed that you did not return to a specific point:
Having established that Six Sigma is not the most appropriate measure for the EDA software industry (tacitly hinting that it could use a relevant quality measure - I agree!) you closed the matter-of-fact piece on CMM without further comment on its (potential) use by EDA tool vendors.
Since the CMM (moving to CMMI…) culture is well established in my company I have asked the Quality VPs of two major tools providers if they are following a route to CMM accreditation and have been surprised that they are not; they cite the excellence of their internal procedures, or the software development model they use not being amenable to CMM assessment.
I would like to suggest you follow up this week's editorial with feedback from a quick poll of major EDA tools vendors summarizing if they use recognized s/w quality assessment; if so, how do they score; if not, why don't they rate it important to their customers and shareholders?
Nigel Blake
BAE Systems Avionics, UK
[These are expressions of my personal views and not those of BAE Systems]
Response
Your suggestion is a good one. Obtaining financial information from publicly traded companies and product information from all companies is very straightforward. Also I can generally get a spokesperson to comment on their products, product strategy, industry trends and future directions. Getting through to software development is a different matter. If any reader at an EDA company would like to volunteer information on this topic it would be appreciated.
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EVE Names D'Gipro its Distributor in India; Demand for ZeBu Hardware-Assisted Verification Platform in India Drives Move
Atheros Communications Adopts Synopsys' NanoSim for Advanced Wireless Chip Verification
Synopsys Files Suit Against Magma Claiming Rightful Ownership of Patents
Infineon Reaches Milestone in China: Formal Opening of Suzhou Plant
Freescale Semiconductor Delivers Complete, Single-Chip Fast Ethernet Solution
Agere Systems Uncovers Method to Overcome Barriers to Global Lead-Free Chip Implementation
Ansoft Releases AnsoftLinks v3; New Version Adds Support for Mentor Graphics' Expedition PCB Design Software
More EDA in the News and More IP & SoC News
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