Press Release
- 2002
ATI and DRAM industry leaders
announce specification for GDDR-3
Next generation graphics DRAM specification available now
Monday, October 7, 2002
MARKHAM, Ontario - In a collaborative effort with the world's
leading dynamic random access memory (DRAM) vendors, ATI Technologies
Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) has announced the completion
of the specification for the third generation of double data
rate (DDR) DRAM for graphics, known as GDDR3.
While today's DDR DRAM allows for speeds of up to 400MHz,
GDDR3 was designed to initially provide memory clocks of 500MHz,
with headroom for up to 800MHz. GDDR3 is targeted for introduction
in 2003.
"GDDR3 is the DRAM that will fuel the continued trend
in graphics towards life-like virtual worlds," said Rick
Bergman, Senior Vice President, Marketing and General Manager,
Desktop, ATI Technologies Inc. "ATI is committed to leading
innovation on the PC platform, and GDDR3 will allow us to
continue to raise the bar and define the industry standard
for computer graphics in upcoming product generations."
Over the past four years, advancements in DDR DRAM have allowed
simple graphic accelerators that rendered primitive 3D worlds
to evolve into Visual Processing Units (GPUs) that render
life like cinematic worlds in real time as recently demonstrated
for the first time with ATI's Radeon® 9700 PRO and ATI's
FIREGL™ X1.
GDDR3 not only continues the trend for the graphics industry
to be an early adopter of DRAM technology, but is the first
DRAM designed specifically for a market before an industry
standard is available.
"Our expertise in memory characterization and system
implementation is enabling GDDR3 as the ideal high-speed DRAM
for graphics," said Terry Lee, Executive Director of
Advanced Technology and Strategic Marketing for Micron's Computing
and Consumer Group. "We believe the significant performance
advantages realized by this device will rapidly drive its
adoption in the graphics arena. We expect it will then migrate
into a broad range of applications."
"The graphics market has always been an early adopter
of new DRAM technology," said Peter Schaefer, vice president,
memory products for Infineon Technologies North America Corp.
"Infineon has also led the way to bringing high speed
memories to market. GDDR3 complements Infineon's development
of the high speed graphics DRAMs that are used in today's
cutting edge products."
Evolution of existing DRAM
Key to creating an ideal high-speed memory for graphics was
the improvement in key technical areas such as high speed
signaling that is important in designing DRAM for graphics,
leveraging the work of JEDEC in defining DDR-II for the commodity
memory market.
"As a technology leader in high speed DRAM, Elpida congratulates
ATI on rallying and leading the industry in defining the GDDR3
specification," said Jun Kitano, director of Technical
Marketing at Elpida Memory (USA), Inc. "Leveraging our
experience in developing and manufacturing our DDR-II device,
Elpida is happy to have collaborated with ATI during the definition
stages, as GDDR3 fits into Elpida's plans to become a premier
supplier of high speed memories to the graphics market in
2003."
"The graphics market is all about speed", said
Farhad Tabrizi, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Hynix
Semiconductor America. "As the leader in graphics DRAM,
Hynix is committed to continue to provide high speed DRAMs
to a market that values innovation in a timely manner."
Specification complete
With the completion of the specification late in the summer
of 2002, DRAM vendors and users of high speed DRAMs can focus
on the next step in the process of delivering products to
market. GDDR3 will become available in 2003 and should continue
to be an important inflection in graphics for years to come.
Copyright 2002 ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved.
ATI and ATI product and product feature names are trademarks
and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All
other company and product names are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of their respective owners. Features, pricing,
availability and specifications are subject to change without
notice.
About ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacture
of innovative 3D graphics and digital media silicon solutions.
An industry pioneer since 1985, ATI is the world's foremost
visual processor unit (GPU) provider and is dedicated to deliver
leading-edge performance solutions for the full range of PC
and Mac desktop and notebook platforms, workstation, set-top
and digital television, game console and handheld markets. With
2001 revenues in excess of US $1 billion, ATI has more than
1,900 employees in the Americas, Europe and Asia. ATI common
shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange
(ATY).
Contact Information
For media or industry analyst support, visit our Web site
at http://www.ati.com or contact.
Derek Baker, Counsellor, BenchMark Porter Novelli, at (416)
422-5178 or dbaker@bmporternovelli.com
Other ATI Contacts:
Chris Hook, PR Manager, ATI Technologies Inc., 905-882-2600,
Ext. 8477 or chook@ati.com
For investor relations support, please contact:
Janet Craig, Director, Investor Relations, ATI Technologies
Inc., at (905) 882-2600, Ext. 2631 or jcraig@ati.com
