Moving their memory chip collaboration forward, IBM Corp, Toshiba Corp and Siemens AG announced yesterday that they will jointly design and develop a second-generation 64M-bit memory chip, smaller than the ones jointly developed by Siemens and IBM that are sampling now. Siemens and IBM are also partnered on 16M-bit parts, and all three are already working together to design a 256M-bit part – some of the fruits of that work will go into the new part . Work on the new chip will begin immediately at IBM facilities in East Fishkill, New York and the IBM development laboratory in Essex Junction, Vermont, and each company will share development costs and provide staff to support the effort. A prototype is expected in 1996 with availability in 1997. Siemens has previously estimated the development costs of the 64M-bit chip at about $800m and production costs at up to $1,800m.
