DRAM/Flash memory update

At the press conference, Ms Ann Bai gave an insight into the trends. For the enthusiasts, Kingston's HyperX is what they should be going for. As Kingston does pick the best of best modules and test it to ensure they can overclock to a certain limit, enthusiast do not need to cherry pick and try your luck.

The other line is the Value ram , they are more generic models that is used by most desktop systems and users who do not need to overclock their systems.

In the roadmap, Kingston believes that the for Intel platforms, DDR2-800 has turned mainstream for the desktop. Enthusiast will probably go for the DDR3-1066. In the future, DDR2 will phase out and DDR3-1066/1333/1600 will be the next trend in 2008 and beyond. As for AMD platforms, it is still DDR2-800 as the mainstream for this year and probably next year. AMD might switch to DDR3 in the future.

Kingston also launched 4 DDR3 products recently.

DDR3-1800

KHX14400D3/1G1800MHz 8-8-8-24 1.9V
KHX14400D3K2/2G1800MHz 8-8-8-24 1.9V

DDR3-1625Mhz Low Latency

KHX13000D3LL/1G1625MHz 7-7-7-20 1.9V
KHX13000D3LLK2/2G1625MHz 7-7-7-20 1.9V

Flash memory

Flash memory isn't new as you will probably use it in your digital cameras, mobile phones etc. Currently, Kingston's market share is similar to Sandisk. With more and more portable devices requiring flash memory, the market is growing exponentially. it is expected to reach 30 million units and 300 mil USD revenue in 2007.

Kingston will also be launching new products in Oct, a Elite Pro 1-16GB 133X CF is planned and an 8-16 GB Standard CF is scheduled for Q4.

In Q1 2008, we will see two new data travellers DT Mingo and DT HyperX. In Q2, 2008, there will be 16GB and 32GB Data Traveller Secure and Data Traveller Secure Privacy edition.

Kingston also intends to manufacturing SSD (Solid State Drive). SSD basically will replace HDD in the long run as it consume less power, noiseless, no mechanical parts, better MTBF, more reliable, faster application launch time etc. Kingston intends to ship the first 32GB SSD in the end of 1Q 2008. 64GB SSD are in the plans but prices are still high. When it goes from 70nm->50nm, it is expected that SSD drives should be fetching a premium price of around 200 to 250 USD. The evolution of SSD will not kill off HDD. It is presume that SSD will be used for fast loading applications and OS while traditional HDD still remains for data storage.

In 2007, the number of SSDs in notebook is 4million. It is expected to climb to 35 million in the year 2010.

In the next 2 pages are photos of the manufacturing process or DRAM and USB drives.

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