Infineon Technologies Announces Availability of 128-Mbit Mobile-RAM in Sample Quantities; New Low-Power Memory Compliant with JEDEC Standard

Jul 25, 2001 | Market News

Munich, Germany – July 25, 2001 – Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE: IFX) today announced the availability of sample quantities of its 128-Mbit Mobile-RAM. Designed specifically for use in battery-powered, handheld electronic products, the Mobile-RAM is a very low-power SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), mounted in a space-saving Fine-pitch Ball Grid Array (FBGA) package that is fully compliant with the new JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard.

Compared to standard TSOP (Thin Small Outline Package) mounted SDRAM, the form factor of the Mobile-RAM is reduced by more than a factor of three, with the FBGA occupying a footprint of just 8 mm x 9 mm. Power consumption of the Mobile-RAM is reduced by up to 80 percent compared to a standard 128-Mbit SDRAM, depending on the operating conditions and system design. This is achieved by a reduced operating voltage of 2.5V and I/O voltage of 1.8V or 2.5V as well as a special power management. The recent JEDEC standardization of the Low-Power SDRAM specifies all these features including the package.

“The Mobile-RAM underscores our strategy to further diversify Infineon’s DRAM product portfolio,” says Axel Hahn, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Infineon’s Memory Product Division. “We are excited about offering the most advanced memory solution to the handheld market. The Mobile-RAM represents a quantum leap in efforts to maximize battery lifetime and minimize size, weight and total system cost of the next generation of Personal Digital Assistants, Smart Phones and Digital Still Cameras.”

Industry support for the new standard has gained momentum since the JEDEC standardization, which was actively driven and supported by Infineon. Many chipset and Operating System (OS) vendors as well as companies offering IP (Intellectual Property) for ASIC/SoC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit / System on Chip) design are preparing to offer support for the new standard to benefit from the power-saving features of the Mobile-RAM.

Dick Lawrence, Strategic Marketing Platform Architect at Intel’s Wireless Communication & Computing Division comments: “We are counting on industry-standard Low-Power DRAMs like Infineon’s Mobile-RAM to reduce power in our customers’ products. And, because of the open-standard JEDEC approach, customers will have a choice of compatible parts from multiple suppliers.”

Low power SDRAMs are expected to be widely used in a variety of handheld, battery-powered applications such as Smart Phones and PDAs. "The worldwide PDA and handheld device market continues to look promising," says Kevin Burden, Program Manager Smart Handheld Devices of International Data Corp. (IDC). "Worldwide shipments of PDAs and related handheld devices are projected to be 19.6 million this year, and will grow annually 39 percent to 70.8 million units in 2005."

Additionally, the growth in popularity of wireless connectivity to the Internet will significantly increase the memory capacity required in portable systems. "Wireless Internet access fundamentally changes memory requirements for handheld computing devices,“ says Bert McComas of InQuest Market Research. “With more sophisticated operating systems these mobile devices will demand a larger memory capacity to access PC data, news streaming, media streaming, etc. Inexpensive, low-power, high density memory solutions will be vital for these new platforms."

Infineon’s product roadmap for Mobile-RAM includes the 128-Mbit part in x8 and x16 organizations, as well as plans to introduce a 256-Mbit version in 2002, which will provide increased memory density for the next generation of Personal Digital Assistants. Even though a large proportion of PDAs is expected to continue offering 32 Mbytes of DRAM or less for some time, for which the 128-Mbit Mobile-RAM is ideally suited, a growing number of higher-end systems are expected to use a total DRAM capacity of 64 Mbytes beginning next year. The next-generation Mobile-RAM will provide this memory density by using just two FBGA devices.

Availability, price and package


Samples of the Infineon 128-Mbit Mobile-RAM organized 8M x 16 and 16M x 8 are available at a price of 15.00 US dollar in small unit quantities. Volume production is planned to start later this year. Infineon will offer Mobile-RAM samples both in the new JEDEC-standardized 54-ball FBGA package, and in standard TSOP mounts to simplify system evaluation for customers working with development hardware laid out for the larger package. All production volume of the Mobile-RAM will be mounted in the space-saving FBGA.More information about Mobile-RAM including datasheets and a range of device models is available at www.infineon.com/mobile-ram


About Infineon


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. In the fiscal year 2000 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 7.28 billion with about 29,000 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.

All brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Any statements in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties; actual results may differ from the forward-looking statements. Infineon Technologies undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Information Number

INFMP200107.094e

Press Photos

  • Designed specifically for use in battery-powered, handheld electronic products, the Mobile-RAM is a very low-power SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), mounted in a space-saving Fine-pitch Ball Grid Array (FBGA) package that is fully compliant with the new JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard.
    Designed specifically for use in battery-powered, handheld electronic products, the Mobile-RAM is a very low-power SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), mounted in a space-saving Fine-pitch Ball Grid Array (FBGA) package that is fully compliant with the new JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard.
    Press Picture

    JPG | 926 kb | 1535 x 1063 px