Rambus XDR2 gets no respect from Taiwan

Rambus has a new advanced technology on the scene, and, unfortunately, it is being met with even more contempt than previous Rambus releases. The new XDR2 memory technology is about as sexy as a Geek could hope. Slated to begin at memory speeds of 8GHz, the new memory chips (according to Rambus) should be able to attain bandwidth metrics as high as 16GBps, enabling system components capable of 256GBps. The new design employs Rambus' latest innovation, dubbed micro-threading, which enables better DRAM efficiency and allows it to provide more bandwidth to the master memory controllers. The design also sports an advanced version of the adaptive timing technology found in XDR that enables dynamic performance adaptation based on temperature and voltage analysis. While it is difficult to deny Rambus' clear leadership on the technology front, the industry's disdain toward Rambus and its offering is by no means inconspicuous. Taiwanese memory makers all but publicly shunned XDR2, and none have publicly acknowledged talks with Rambus to adopt the technology. Available for licensing today, XDR2 simply has no serious takers. Rambus says it is indeed in talks with DRAM manufacturers to sell the technology, including some of the Taiwanese vendors. But in the same breath, Rambus also declares its intentions to prove that a number of the Asian manufacturers colluded in a pricing conspiracy to prevent the mass adoption of RDRAM–talk about a conflict of interest! I seriously hope Rambus can work out its litigation issues. The technology this company is putting out is awesome; too bad it can't make any friends