What's going on in the world of RAM right now? We're in a kind of limbo phase between DDR and DDR2, where one platform (AMD) doesn't yet support it, and another (Intel) has for some time. Despite Intel's DDR2-based systems, are we seeing smaller than expected demand for DDR2?
An article by Taiwanese news site Digi Times today looks at DRAM vendor ProMOS, which is saying DDR2 demand isn't ramping-up as quickly as first thought. The cause, according to ProMOS, is down to Intel, and a shortage of chipsets. Intel's entry-level i945 chipset is seen as the gateway to higher DDR2 sales, but vice president of ProMOS's sales and marketing group, Ben Tseng, has said that this chipset is in short supply right now.
When are DDR2 sales going to pick up? It's looking like early 2006, according to ProMOS. Interestingly, ProMOS have no DDR2 products validated by Intel yet, but Tseng has said it's not due to any technical reason, but rather down to finding a convenient time to actually perform the validation.
Demand for good old DDR will remain strong, at least until the end of the year, but keep an eye on prices.
