Elpida Memory's 800 MHz SO-RIMM^TM Modules Target Network Communications Market

TOKYO, JAPAN, April. 15, 2002 - Elpida Memory, Inc. (Elpida), announced today the availability of high-performance SO-RIMM(tm) modules for network communications applications. The SO-RIMM modules use 800 MHz RDRAM devices with 40 ns RAS access time and deliver up to 1.6 Gigabytes/second of memory bandwidth that is ideal for the networking and telecommunications markets. Elpida's line of SO-RIMM modules offer high-performance and high-capacity memory solutions to meet the Quality of Service (QOS) requirements of gigabit network line-rates.

The new SO-RIMM modules are available in three densities: 64, 128 and 256 Megabytes, providing variable memory capacity and flexible upgrades to address a wide range of applications. All of them use 160-pin packaging and offer smaller form factors and a low pin-count, which saves designers valuable board real estate. The Elpida SO-RIMM modules are just 67.6mm x 31.25 mm, compared to the 133.35 x 34.925 mm size of most current module designs. They also feature 72-bit ECC (Error Correction Code) capabilities for high availability and data integrity. Ideal applications for Elpida's SO-RIMM modules include line cards and network switches with speeds as high as the 10Gbps (OC-192).

"The volume of network data traffic is expanding daily, and the needs of the networking market are growing with it," said Jun Kitano, Director of Technical Marketing for Elpida Memory (USA) Inc. "Elpida plans to match those demands with a growing line of Networking memory products. The speed of RDRAM combined with the low pin count of the Rambus design make these modules an excellent choice for the networking system designers today."

Elpida is focusing on communications with this product line, and the current roadmap includes plans to introduce RDRAM devices at the 1066 MHz level during the first half of 2003. The company also expects to sample 288 Mbit RDRAM chips using its proven 0.13 micron process technology by the end of this year.

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About Elpida Memory, Inc.
Elpida Memory, Inc. is a technology leader in Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) with headquarters based in Tokyo, Japan, and sales and marketing operations located in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Elpida offers a broad range of leading-edge DRAM products including RDRAM®, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, Mobile RAM and Consumer SDRAM. Device densities currently range up to 512 Megabits each, and Module (DIMM) densities range up to 2 Gigabytes each. Elpida offers a variety of standard and high performance packaging techniques, including TSOP, BGA, FBGA, Tape Carrier Package (TCP), and Double Density Package (DDP). Elpida's research, design and development operations were merged from NEC and Hitachi on April 1, 2000 and sales and marketing operations commenced in Q1, 2001. Elpida's main DRAM foundries are located at NEC Hiroshima and Hitachi Nippon Steel Semiconductor Singapore. Elpida's own 300 mm DRAM wafer manufacturing facility is scheduled to begin production by January 2003.

Rambus, RDRAM and the Rambus logo are registered trademarks of Rambus Inc. RIMM and SO-RIMM are trademarks of Rambus Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.