Using its 50nm technology, Samsung claims it's made the world’s first 4 gigabit DDR3 DRAM chip, which is double the density of earlier chips and could yield memory modules with up to 32GB capacity. They are also said to consume considerably less power than previous chips, which the company is pitching as a selling point to the enterprise segment saying it will “lead to a reduction in data center costs by requiring fewer machines, improve server time management and increasing overall efficiency.”


A 16GB module, for example, can consume 40% less power using these new chips rather than 2 gigabit versions because the higher density means it uses half the number of chips – 32 versus 64. Samsung's latest development is not targeted at data centers and servers exclusively, as the 4 gigabit chips will also be used to produce 8 GB DIMMs for workstations, desktops and laptops as well. With the majority of the consumer market still using 32-bit systems, however, I wouldn’t expect these massive desktop memory modules to be widely available any time soon.