Hynix -- Engadget

Hynix posts

Taiwan's proposed DRAM industry bailout puts the word "global" in economic downturn

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Dec 24th 2008 at 3:08PM

It looks like a $6.5 billion dollar bailout of Taiwan's DRAM industry is in the works, a move that is proving as controversial on the island as the auto bailout is Stateside. The DRAM market has been in decline a while now, as evidenced by the recent closure of the Hynix plant in Eugene, where some 1,100 souls once worked doggedly to topple the likes of Intel and AMD. Now, we don't really know all the particulars of this admittedly complex situation, but we sure hope that lawmakers over there are able to work something out -- after the recent debut of Phantom of the Opera peformed by robots at Taiwan's University of Science and Technology, we're sure that people there could use something to lift their spirits.

[Via TG Daily]

16GB Hynix DDR3 RAM modules demonstrated at IDF

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 22nd 2008 at 8:56AM

Remember that MetaRAM technology we figured was nothing more than a sophisticated joke back in February? Intel, one of the noteworthy backers, has proven that said tech actually is one rung above snake-oil at its own Developers Conference in San Francisco. Hynix-made DDR3 DIMMs packing 16GB of memory were reportedly created via the MetaRAM method (and subsequently shown off), and just in case you're not wowed by such wizardry, the demo system included no fewer than ten of these modules. Just in case that sort of flew over your head, the machine they were in possessed 160GB of RAM. Unfortunately, we've a feeling these are quite aways out from hitting the consumer market.

Hynix set to close its Oregon plant, cutting 1,100 jobs

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 10:41AM

It may have once talked about toppling both Intel and AMD within a decade, but South Korea's Hynix looks to have been knocked back on its heels a bit amid a general downturn in the DRAM market, and it's now taken the rather drastic step of closing down its plan in Eugene, Oregon, eliminating some 1,100 jobs in the process. As EE Times points out, that move is at least partly due to the fact that 300mm plants are ramping up faster than expected, making 200mm plans like the one in Oregon far less cost effective to operate and, apparently, too expensive to upgrade. There's also the little matter of some tariffs the United States had imposed on Hynix, which it was able to avoid thanks to its plant in Oregon, but which now appear to be set to expire. For its part, Hynix denies that has anything to do with the plant closing, and it adds that it is still looking at ways to "have a presence" in Eugene.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]

Hynix develops triple-level-cell NAND flash: 30 percent cheaper than MLC

by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 4th 2008 at 10:25AM

The more cells you can pack onto a NAND chip, the cheaper the storage, so we're excited about Hynix's recent announcement of triple-level-cell NAND flash. You might have noticed that MLC-based SSDs are cheaper than SLC units, and TLC keeps the trend alive -- Hynix says the cost of TLC production is some 30 percent lower than current chips. On top of that, the 32GB chips themselves are 30 percent smaller than current NAND chips, meaning device manufacturers will be able to cram more storage into our PMPs and phones. We'll have to wait a little while though: production is going to ramp up in October, and Hynix hasn't committed to using the new chips in SSDs quite yet.

Hynix ships fastest one-gigabit LPDDR2 chip for mobile devices

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 7th 2008 at 3:51AM

Though not quite as impressive as the idea of toppling Intel and AMD within the next ten years, Hynix Semiconductor still has a decent reason to brag today. The South Korean chip producer has announced that it has just started mailing out the "fastest data transferring advanced dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip for mobile devices." Said chip is the one-gigabit LPDDR2 (low-power double-data-rate 2), which was crafted using 66-nanometer technology and features an 800-megabits per second operating speed at 1.2-volts. No word on exactly what devices will see the super-speedy chip packed within, but a company spokesperson did note that it plans on ramping up production during Q4 to meet "growing demand for flat-panel television sets and high-end handheld devices."

[Via Physorg]

MetaRAM aims to bump RAM capacity by 4x overnight

by Ryan Block, posted Feb 25th 2008 at 12:51AM

We're not sure what whacky voodoo snakeoil these MetaRAM people are peddling, but the company's got some high profile behind it (like Intel, for one), is being led by former AMD CTO Fred Weber, has appears to have some potentially revolutionary RAM quadrupling technology. Claiming to have leapfrogged current RAM technology by 2-4 years, MetaRAM uses a specialized "MetaSDRAM" chipset that effectively bonds and addresses four cheap 1Gb DRAM chips as one, tricking any machine's memory controller into using it as a 4x capacity DIMM. Since a 1Gb chip is apparently far less expensive than a 2Gb chip, MetaRAM devices can multiply capacity at prices far lower than their competition; the company claims it'll be shipping in machines in the first quarter of this year, and Hynix has already announced their own 2-rank 8GB DDR2 RDIMMs for the second half.

Hynix boldly plans to topple Intel, AMD within a decade

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jul 26th 2007 at 4:09AM

In a fairly tame show of initiative, Hynix, a South Korean company you've probably never heard of, has announced its plan to become the world's leading chip producer over the next ten years. The company, currently the world's fifth largest memory chipmaker, claims it will boost sales from last year's $7.7 billion to $18 billion in 2010 (the year we make contact), and to $25 billion by 2012 (when the Mayan calendar ends and we're all supposed to eat it). Hynix plans to gain ground by eagerly developing new technologies, and with the introduction of a new type of memory chip called Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM, but not of Apple fame). Analysts say PRAM will become the industry's main memory source, replacing flash storage over the next decade. Meanwhile, architects in Korea are working feverishly to design a room in the new Hynix headquarters large enough for president Jong-Kap Kim's head.

$300,000 worth of Hynix DDR RAM modules hijacked

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 30th 2006 at 1:27AM

It seems the traditional method of acquiring goods -- you know, that "money for product" approach we've been testing out for centuries -- is going to the wayside quite often these days, as yet another major heist has gone down in Taiwan. Twenty boxes of Hynix Semiconductor DDR RAM modules were stolen yesterday, as a trio of assailants reportedly used a machete and stun gun to threaten the driver. The hijacking is likely a planned, organized move, as reports say that the thieves were seen headed to the airport, where they probably hopped a flight to China. Interestingly, it was stated that "ownership of the chips is still unknown," a fact that's sure to make insurance companies drool, considering the $306,000 of missing goods that somebody is going to be out for. Incidents like this do wonders in making those $169 GPS / RFID adornments seem fairly inexpensive, eh?

[Via Inquirer]