Micron Technology said Monday is now producing DDR-II memory components in volume production. The company is making various chips in different densities and is even assembles them in modules.

Boise, Idaho-based Micron claims it is the first and only memory supplier to ship DDR-II components in all densities, including 256Mb, 512Mb, and 1Gb. These components provide the foundation for Micron’s line of registered and unbuffered 240-pin DIMM modules ranging in densities from 128MB to 4GB.

Micron Technology has always been very aggressive in ramping development and production of DDR-II memory products. The company may see some success in this lucrative market provided that the demand for DDR-II for DDR-II platforms will be relatively high starting from the second quarter next year when Intel unveils its Grantsdale and Alderwood chipsets. Given that the highest performance using DDR-II technology can be achieved in dual-channel mode, the demand for the new kind of memory should probably be stable and healthy.

Intel will support DDR-II in desktop, server, workstation, and mobile segments in 2004 by unveiling numerous chipsets and new microprocessors. Leading DRAM memory makers, namely Samsung, Infineon, Micron, Elpida and Hynix, will broadly support the semiconductor giant and will ramp DDR-II mass production throughout the year.

“Micron’s leadership position provides substantial benefits to our customers,” said Terry Lee, Executive Director of Advanced Technology and Strategic Marketing for Micron’s Computing and Consumer Group.

“We are providing critical DDR2 supply to enable the ramp of DDR-II-based systems. We are the only company with all three densities and we are the leading producer of DDR2-II components and modules. We will continue to ramp production as customer demand grows and increase shipments dramatically in the first quarter of 2004.”

Fore every market segments there are dozens of reasons for transition to DDR-II memory. In desktop market DDR-II will bring more performance and scalability, for servers PC2-3200 (DDR-II SDRAM) memory will address PC3200 power, thermal and capacity issues, but will substantially outperform PC2700 memory currently utilized in majority of high-performance server applications. For mobile computers DDR-II will ensure better performance with lower power, increased battery life, and better thermals and reliability.

Intel and its partners among largest DRAM makers have done a great job and now are ready to transit the industry to the newer type of memory very quickly. In the second quarter next year there will be about 5% of Intel core-logic supporting DDR-II, in the fourth quarter their share among Intel’s chipsets shipments will increase 25% and by the Q2 2005, DDR-II SDRAM-supporting chipsets will account for roughly 50% of Intel’s chipsets. Elpida and other major DRAM suppliers on the planet share Intel’s estimates and believe that by the Q1 2006 the whole standard computing segments will nearly 100% consume DDR-II.

Micron Technology did not say anything concrete about speed-bins for the now shipping DDR-II DRAMs.