Twenty semiconductor firms have formed a new consortium, Advanced Memory International Inc, in an effort to promote double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory technologies. AMI2, which has support from all the major DRAM suppliers, say they will work together to speed up time-to-market for new DDR memory technologies.

The formation of the group reveals the continuing reluctance on behalf of the memory chip industry to rely on the roll-out of Rambus Inc’s Direct RDRAM technology. The Rambus technology was endorsed by Intel Corp and subsequently supported by the rest of the industry. But delays to the supporting chipsets and problems testing the new technology in high volumes have put back the market introduction of Rambus memory. Intel’s 820 Camino chipset, supporting Rambus, is due out later this year.

AMI2 says it will work with the JEDEC Sold State Technology Association standards setting body, a sector of the Electronic Industries Alliance, on standardization efforts. Those include finalizing the introduction of PC133MHz SDRAM parts, seen as a stepping stone for DDR 266MHz technology. It also hopes to accelerate the adoption of DDR SDRAM, which most memory suppliers are now shipping or sampling. The consortium is actively involved in developing future JEDEC DDR-2 specifications which it claims will take SDRAM up to the 4Gb/sec range of system performance. It will attempt to coordinate the development of support devices such as memory modules, connectors, controller chipsets, voltage regulators, buffers, manufacturing and test equipment.

The new group takes over the legal framework of SLDRAM Inc, which was formed in 1995 and backed by many of the same suppliers to support synchronous link dynamic SLDRAM, which has now lost support as a credible competition for Direct Rambus. Double data- rate SDRAM, a faster version of SDRAM which some argue represents a more evolutionary approach to faster memory architectures than Rambus, has so far won design wins mostly at the high-end rather than the volume market.

Intel itself continues to dismiss alternative memory technologies, saying they would require new motherboards and memory modules to work in desktop PCs. Its Camino chipset, supporting the Rambus memory format, is due out later this year. For its graphics workstations, however, Intel will initially extend its current PC 100 memory to SDRAM 100-166, an increase in clock speed up to 166MHz. Next year it plans to make the transition over to Direct RDRAM for Graphics, once the Rambus technology has been established into the mainstream.

Supporters of AMI2 include Fujitsu Ltd, Hitachi Ltd, Hyundai Electronics Ltd, IBM Microelectronics, Infineon Technologies AG, KG Semicon Co, Micron Electronics Ltd, Mitsubishi Ltd, NEC Corp, Samsung Electric Co and Toshiba Corp.