The global DDR4 market will not come into shape until 2013 or 2014, one to two years after industry leaders kick off commercial production based on 30nm process technology, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
The DRAM market's transition to newer DDR4 modules is expected to take place in 2015, the sources said. DDR4 has faster transfer speeds and consumes less power than DDR3, which is currently the dominant technology in the market.
In early 2011, Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor unveiled DDR4 products built using 30nm-class processes with volume shipments slated for 2012.
Samsung claimed its DDR4 will be able to run from 1.6Gbps up to 3.2Gbps, compared to today's typical speeds of 1.6Gbps for DDR3 and 800Mbps for DDR2. The new module achieves data transfer rates of 2.133Gbps at 1.2V, and when applied to a notebook reduces power consumption by 40% compared to a 1.5V DDR3 module.
Hynix said its DDR4 DRAM product is 80% faster than older DDR3 1333Mbps devices, and operates at as low as 1.2V. Volume production is set to begin in the second half of 2012, according to the company.
According to market research firm , DDR4 will see its share of DRAM module shipments climb from almost zero in 2013 to 12% in 2014, and expand further to 56% in 2015.