New Technology from Infineon Makes Largest Memories Available in Smallest Computer Space / New Graphics Memory for Ultra-High-Speed 3-D Applications on Notebooks

Munich, 1 July 2002 – Infineon Technologies presented two new products in Munich today that further drive the development of even faster and more powerful computer systems and associated applications. An exceptionally small memory module with a capacity of one Gigabyte is immediately available from Infineon as a production sample for hardware manufacturers. Based on innovative technology, the “Registered DDR333 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Modules” occupies about 60 % less space on the mainboard than currently used memory solutions. Infineon has also presented a new graphics memory for professional users and gamers that dramatically improves the performance of 3-D applications and runs with a lower power consumption which makes it ideal for notebooks.

Target market high-end servers

The new 1-Gbyte memory combines 36 individual 256-Mbit memory chips on a single module. A commercially available 256-Mbyte memory module usually consists of 16 individual chips. For a memory expansion of 1 Gbyte, it is currently necessary to occupy as much as four memory banks on the mainboard. The FBGA (Fine Pitch Ball Grid Array) standard of JEDEC (Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council – international standards organization of the semiconductor industry) used by Infineon forms the technological foundation for designing the individual memory chips even smaller. With this technology, the leads are distributed across the underside of the chip, instead of locating them only along the edges as in the traditional designs. This allows to pack a more higher number of memory chips into a single module. Major applications of the new high-performance memory are primarily in the business area, e.g. in network computers, the so-called servers. It is expected that the Gigabyte will be used in the first hardware products starting in 2003.

Fastest 3-D graphics applications are going mobile

With the new graphics memory, Infineon primarily enables powerful and complex graphics applications on mobile computers. Up to now, the limited available space in ultra-compact housings and the high energy requirements of processors and memory chips were serious limiting factors for the performance of graphics components in notebooks. The new graphics memory from Infineon with advanced “Double Data Rate” (DDR) technology cuts the power consumption by one third and achieves a bandwidth of 3.6 Gigabyte per second at a maximum clock rate of 450 MHz. This makes the new graphics memory a perfect fit for realistic and complex 3-D graphics applications even for mobile devices. Infineon has chosen a new approach in the development of the graphics memory: While graphics card manufacturers have increased their focus on the acceleration of graphics processors over the past few years – which resulted in an even higher power consumption –, Infineon has increased its efforts to implement larger, optimized memory units in order to achieve a higher overall performance in conjunction with powerful graphics processors.

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for applications in the wired and wireless communications markets, for security systems and smartcards, for the automotive and industrial sectors, as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. Employing about 33,800 people worldwide, the company achieved sales of EUR 5.67 billion in fiscal 2001 (ending September). Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol IFX.