During its third quarter FY-2015 earnings call, Micron Technology revealed that it has begun to ship its first-ever GDDR5 DRAM chips to be based on its 20 nm-class node, according to TechPowerUp. After the company's acquisition of Japanese DRAM maker Elpida, Micron has been going head-to-head with Samsung for the top spot in the marketplace. By offering memory chips at lower prices than the competition, Micron hopes to deliver an edge in affordability that competitors, including Samsung, simply wouldn't be able to compete with.

Although Samsung's manufacturing process led to nearly 60% of the company's total output by the end of 2014, Micron has stated that it will continue to compete with Samsung in the 20 nm-class as far as 2016. However, with the GDDR5 memory standard becoming increasingly antiquated, it's predicted that HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) will soon emerge as its replacement. Considering both AMD and Nvidia are adopting HBM in their high-end GPUs, the prospect doesn't seem far-fetched.

With the GDDR5 space saturated by a number of hardware manufacturers and the impending obsolescence of the standard, it will be interesting to see how Micron handles the obvious challenges that await. Unfortunately, the forecast doesn't appear to be bright for Micron's latest venture, with more major companies like SK Hynix and Samsung steadily outpacing the Idaho-based corporation in terms of technological progress.