Memory makers Elpida Memory and Toshiba Corp. recently stated they had begun sampling of XDR DRAM memory devices at extreme speeds of 3.20GHz and 4.80GHz. The announcement follows Samsung’s initialization of XDR DRAM mass production at 2.00GHz.

Both Elpida and Toshiba sample 512Mb XDR DRAM with 1.8V voltage. Elpida’s chips operate at 2.40GHz, 3.20GHz and 4.0GHz, Toshiba’s products are offered at 4.80GHz and are claimed to be scalable towards 6.40GHz. Commercial XDR devices at speeds exceeding frequencies of modern memory are likely to emerge in the second half of this year. It is unclear which companies use Elpida's and Toshiba's XDR chips for evaluation today.

Numerous leading consumer electronics companies, such as Sony or Panasonic, said they would adopt Rambus’ XDR memory for their devices, including Sony’s PlayStation 3 console and Panasonic’s digital TV-sets. Certain networking companies are also interested in XDR. Another target market for XDR memory may be graphics cards, according to reports in 2004.

XDR DRAM can operate at 3.20GHz to 6.40GHz clock-speeds, providing industry leading bandwidth per pin, which is a benefit for networking and consumer applications.

Samsung recently set up mass production of XDIMM modules featuring the company’s 256Mb XDR devices. The Samsung 256Mb XDR DRAM incorporates Rambus’ Octal Data Rate process that transfers data at eight bits per clock cycle, while cranking up the transfer speed of the XDIMM to 8GB/s per module.