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Samsung develops 'world's fastest' embedded memory, first with eMMC 5.0
The evolution of mobile memory chips keeps moving faster, if Samsung's progress is any indication. Not eight months since churning out those speedy eMMC 4.5 chips, and the company's next version of NAND is already here. Indeed, the South Korean company says it's now in mass production of what it deems as the world's fastest embedded memory. The new eMMC PRO chip is based on 64GB 10nm class NAND flash technology and would be the first to support the eMMC 5.0 standard. The chips will be available in the usual 16, 32 and 64GB iterations and feature an interface speed of 400MB/s. The 32 and 64GB densities in particular boast random read and write speeds of 7,000 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second) and sequential read and write speeds of 250MB/s and 90MB/s respectively. What do all of those numbers mean? Well, they should translate to much better performance when it comes to multitasking, browsing, file transfers, HD video capture, gaming and just general computing. Combined with the firm's upcoming Exynos 5 Octa 5420 SoC, and we're champing at the bit to see them implemented in Samsung's next generation of mobile devices.
Samsung promotes DRAM chief to vice chairman, implements 'top-two' structure
Samsung reshuffled its managerial hierarchy yesterday, promoting Kwon Oh Hyun, head of its DRAM operations, to vice chairman. Kwon, who successfully steered Samsung through an industry-wide price slump last quarter, will continue to head up the company's chip and LCD divisions, while working alongside Jung Yeon Joo -- the former CEO of Samsung C&T Corporation who was also promoted to vice chairman. The restoration of this "top-two" structure was one of several moves the Samsung Group made on Wednesday, including the announcement of six new presidents. Kwon's advancement, however, is certainly the most noteworthy. As the Korea Times reports, the move has already garnered speculation among industry observers, some of whom believe that Kwon's new position signifies Samsung's equal commitment to both component and product divisions. In a statement, Samsung praised the executive for navigating its DRAM business through choppy economic waters, while crediting him for the "strengthening of Samsung's market leadership in memory products." Read more at the source links below.
Split second power outage may lead to drop in Toshiba chip shipments
It's more than a little crazy to think about, but a 0.07-second power disruption in Japan yesterday may have just caused as much as a 20 percent drop in chip shipments from Toshiba. The root of the problem is that the backup system at Toshiba's Yokkaichi memory chip plant failed to kick in because the brief drop in voltage was more severe than the system was designed for, which has not only forced the plant to halt production until Friday, but may have caused irreparable damage to scores of chips in production at the time of the outage. As The Wall Street Journal reports, it's still not clear exactly how much damage was caused, but if, for instance, the systems controlling the so-called clean room were shut off, all chips inside would likely be ruined. The good news, such as it is, is that there isn't likely to be a worldwide shortage as a result of the outage -- Toshiba plans to adjust their output accordingly early next year, and it notes that demand is usually slow in January and February anyway following the holiday shopping season.
Hynix ships fastest one-gigabit LPDDR2 chip for mobile devices
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]
'Living' cyborg chip stores rudimentary memories
The journey to pack more (proverbial) internal storage into the human brain has been going on for years, but a recent development at Tel-Aviv University could actually bring us one step closer to storing rudimentary memories on a manmade device. Reportedly, a new experiment has shown that it is indeed possible to store said memories "in an artificial culture of live neurons," which is a fairly significant step towards the "cyborg-like integration of living material into memory chips." Essentially, Itay Baruchi and Eshel Ben-Jacob carefully examined the firing patterns of a sea of electrodes and found that they could "deliberately create additional firing patterns that coexist with the spontaneous patterns." These forced patterns could theoretically represent simple memories stored in the neuron network, and after giving it a go on their own, they were able to see "memory patterns" persist for over forty hours in a homegrown concoction. Of course, the duo isn't likely to stop before producing "the first chemically operated neuro-memory chip," and while we could all use a longer train of thought every now and then, the studies could also "help neurologists to understand how our brains learn and store information."[Via TGDaily]
Researchers churn out "world's densest" memory circuit
Undoubtedly, there's been quite a few chips claiming to hold some sort of "world's smallest" title, but a team of researchers have crafted what they call the "most dense computer memory circuit ever fabricated," capable of "storing around 2,000 words in a unit the size of a white blood cell." Scientists at Caltech and UCLA put their proximity differences behind them for a bit to develop a 160-kilobit memory cell that purportedly has a record-setting density of "100 gigabits per square centimeter." The bantam chip is capable of holding a document the size of the US Declaration of Independence with room leftover for a few quarterly reports (or slow jams), but Caltech chemistry professor James Heath doubts that we'll see it in mainstream action anytime soon. Still, the team isn't backing down from its discovery, and hopes to see this manufactured and placed into laptops in the coming years.[Via Slashdot]
