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Toshiba mobile RAM uses prediction, adaptation to cut power use by up to 85 percent
RAM remains one of the principal drains on a smartphone's battery: it's almost always in use, and it saps power even when its host device is idle in a pocket. Toshiba hasn't eliminated that demand entirely, but its new SRAM (not yet pictured here) is intelligent enough to cut a lot of the waste. The memory can better predict what power it's going to need while it's active, and includes a smarter retention circuit that occasionally wakes up to tweak buffer size while it's on standby. While these sound all too abstract, they should lead to some very tangible gains. Toshiba estimates that the SRAM chews up 27 percent less power when live, and 85 percent less when it's just waiting for action. The company doesn't yet know when the RAM will reach finished devices, but we're hoping it's soon when even mainstream phones like the Optimus F7 will ship with 2GB of RAM; that energy draw isn't going down all by itself.
Fujitsu, SuVolta push SRAM to its efficiency limits, demo 0.425 volt chip
Get the power requirements down for your next generation of RAM and you can have a raise in your allowance. For the perfect example of two companies that learned to play nice together and deserve a little something extra, Fujitsu Semiconductor and SuVolta today announced the successful demonstration of their ultra-low-voltage SRAM blocks at the International Electron Devices Meeting in Washington, DC. The new SRAM, which sips a mere 0.425 volts (nearly half that of previous chips), uses SuVolta's PowerShrink CMOS platform with Fujitsu's energy-efficient process technology. The companies showed that a 576Kb block of SRAM can run at just 0.4 volts by cutting its CMOS transistor threshold voltage variation in half. It's all very technical and, speaking of which, you'll find all those science-y details and diagrams in the PR after the break. Now, whip us up a crucial component that sips half the power it used to and you'll get a boost in your allowance and an approving tussle of the hair.
IBM's eDRAM to triple memory and double performance of processors
Last month it was leaky transistors, now it's DRAM -- embedded DRAM to be precise -- at the bleeding edge of semiconductor news. Today, IBM's neo-maxi-zoom-dweebies will announce that their new type of memory will "triple" the amount of memory stored on computer chips while doubling the performance of processors. How you say? It's the SRAM, man. IBM's new eDRAM is faster than that scandalous DRAM -- nearly as fast as SRAM while taking up less space. As a result, IBM can replace most of the SRAM with the new, smaller eDRAM. Expect the new tech to appear in IBM's server chips starting in 2008.
Samsung coughs up $90 million more for DRAM price-fixing
If you (or Samsung) thought this whole "DRAM price-fixing disaster" was finished, apparently that's just not the case anymore, as it looks like the semiconductor giant will be coughing up an additional $90 million "to settle litigation brought by 41 US states pertaining to Samsung's alleged participation in a global DRAM price-fixing conspiracy." Yes, the company has already been hit with a $300 million fine and watched a trio of its own execs hit the big house, but this $90 million is supposed to "benefit victims that paid artificially high prices for personal computers and other high-tech equipment that contained the chips." Additionally, it was stated that $10 million was reserved for the states and localities to "recover their losses," while the other chunk would be split amongst the throngs of "consumers and other victims." No other details about the payout were mentioned, and while it wasn't stated for certain, we can assume that this final penalty will indeed be the last, but all this grief that Samsung has received most likely has all those other potential price fixers squirming.
Double trouble for SRAM makers: class action suit on the way
Things weren't looking so great already for those skeezy SRAM price-fixers, but now it looks like they'll have a class action lawsuit to worry about on top of all that DOJ heat they're currently facing. A certain Kenneth Bagwell of Michigan started up the class action suit, claiming the defendants conspired to "fix, maintain or stabilize prices and to allocate markets for the sale of SRAM." And Kenneth isn't screwing around. He's managed to name just about every SRAM manufacturer under the sun as in cahoots: Alliance, Cypress, Etron, GSI, Hitachi, Hynix, Integrated Silicon Solution, Micron, Crucial, Mitsubishi, NEC, Renesas, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Winbond, Fujitsu, IBM, Seiko Epson, Epson, Sharp and ST Microelectronics are all named as defendants of his own personal cash-in on this debacle. Mr. Bagwell already brought his suit to a Michigan district court, so now we just watch and wait for it all to hit the fan -- as if it hadn't already.
Uh-oh! Sony part of DoJ's inquiry into SRAM sales
It's not just the bloggers, the journalists, the Wall Street suits, and the battery burn victims that are down on Sony these days ... Alberto Gonzalez and the legal eagles down at the Department of Justice have decided to pile on. What are they mad about? Hint: it's not exploding batteries or a hefty price tag.Nope, apparently Sony is part of an industry-wide inquiry into sales of SRAM. According to a Sony spokesman, even though they don't manufacture the SRAM themselves, they sold $27.7 million worth of it in 2005. Sony responded to the inquiry simply, stating, "Sony intends to cooperate fully with the DoJ in what appears to be an industry-wide inquiry." How else could this be ugly? Well, according to Howstuffworks.com, "The [PS3's] SPEs each come loaded with 256 KB SRAM. This high-speed memory helps each SPE crunch numbers quickly."It's unclear what the inquiry is related to, but the AP reports that, "a separate Justice Department investigation into price-fixing among DRAM companies has so far resulted in more than a dozen charges against individuals and more than $731 million in fines against" various RAM manufacturers. According to the website for a pending class action lawsuit, "several marketers and sellers of SRAM formed a cartel and conspired to reverse the steady decline of SRAM prices that occurred from 1994-97. The conspiracy was successful. Beginning in 1998, SRAM prices increased dramatically and continued to increase through 2001. Even when SRAM prices dipped in 2002, the cartel's conspiracy was still able to keep SRAM prices at an artificially high level. By engaging in its illegal, anti-competitive activity, the cartel caused purchasers of SRAM to pay supra-competitive prices."Uh-oh.[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]
US Justice Department probing Sony, others for SRAM doings
These kids just can't catch a break. The folks at Sony, fresh off their battery debacle, and struggling to make any sort of relevant quantity for next month's PS3 launch, are being probed by the US Justice Department's antitrust division in regards to the company's SRAM biz. Sony, which did $27.7 million worth of SRAM business last year, says it "intends to cooperate fully with the DOJ in what appears to be an industry-wide inquiry," but that's about all the info we've got so far. Apparently US-based Cypress Semiconductor is also under investigation for similar SRAM doings, and Mitsubishi is even in some retroactive trouble, but there's no word if the situation is similar to the price-fixing scandal that Samsung and others got busted for earlier this year. We'll be keeping an eye on this investigation as it develops. It seems unlikely that any sort of accusations that could come out of this could do much damage to Sony's relatively small share in the industry, but we really wouldn't mind a feel-good puff piece on Sony now and then -- you know, just for a change of pace.
US DOJ investigates Mitsubishi's prior SRAM biz
It's been several years since Mitsubishi bailed out of the crowded SRAM business, but apparently the US Department of Justice still has a bone to pick with the mega corporation. After handing off its SRAM operations to Renesas -- "a joint venture founded by Mitsubishi and Hitachi" in 2003 -- the firm had seemingly bypassed the barrage of DOJ inquisitions which pinned Samsung with a $300 million fine and led the Korean FTC to examine the uber-low NAND memory prices that only Apple seemed to be receiving. Now the anti-trust agency has tagged its third victim regarding the US SRAM market, but has yet to explain what issue(s) piqued their interest. Mitsubishi, however, is seemingly already hanging its head in shame, as it made statements insinuating that unforeseen penalties could be faced, and noted that the probe could lead to "a possible adverse affect on the company's future business performance." While we aren't exactly sure what skeletons may still be in Mitsu's closet, we've certainly been forewarned that potentially harmful discoveries could be imminent.
