Nvidia has announced that Hewlett-Packard (HP) is adopting up to two Tesla GPUs in its Z800 workstation for the high-performance computing market.Based on the massively parallel Nvidia Cuda architecture, Tesla GPUs deliver performance increases to critical code across multiple fields, Nvidia said.The Z800 workstation also adopts Intel's Xeon processor with QuickPath Technology and Intel 5520 chipsets. HP Z800 workstation: Specifications Item Detail Processor Quad-core Intel Xeon 5500 sequence processor Chipset Intel 5520 (Dual) Processor cache 4MB or 8MB (dependent on processor) Form Factor Rackable minitower Maximum memory 192GB, 1333MHz, six-channel DDR3 (3-channels per processor), 12 DIMM slots Graphics Nvidia Quadro NVS 295 (256 MB) Sources: Company, compiled by Digitimes, August 2009HP Z800 workstationPhoto: Company

Worldwide sales of semiconductors for second-quarter 2009 totaled US$51.7 billion, up 17% on quarter but still 20% lower than the US$64.7 billion reported for second-quarter 2008, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). In June, the sales continued sequential growth to US$17.2 billion."The fourth-consecutive monthly increase in sales is one indicator the industry is returning to normal seasonal growth patterns," said SIA president George Scalise. Focused supply chain management by both producers and customers helped to moderate the impact of the global economic recession on the industry, Scalise added."Inventories have been closely managed, encouraging us to believe that the sequential increase in quarterly sales represents a gradual recovery of demand," Scalise continued. He noted that industry analysts have recently become more optimistic in their forecasts for key demand drivers. "Consensus estimates for unit sales of PCs are now in the range of minus 5% to flat compared to 2008, whereas earlier forecasts were projecting on-year unit declines of 9-12%. In cell phone handsets, analysts now believe the unit decline will be in the range of 7-9% compared to earlier forecasts of a decline of around 15%."In addition, economic stimulus programs in China, including incentives for purchasing consumer products and investment in 3G/TD-SCDMA communications infrastructure, have helped drive semiconductor sales in the world's largest chip market, according to Scalise. "The global macroeconomic environment remains the key factor in determining the timing and rate of recovery for the semiconductor industry." SIA: Global chip sales, 1H09 (US$b) June 2009 2Q09 1H09 Chip sales 17.2 51.7 95.9 M/M 3.7% - - Q/Q - 17.0% - Y/Y (20.0%) (20.0%) (25%) Source: SIA, compiled by Digitimes, August 2009

Spot prices of both DRAM and NAND flash enjoyed a big sequential jump this week (July 27-31) upon news that Samsung Electronics raised its DDR2 prices and Toshiba suffered from a power outage at its NAND flash fab, according to inSpectrum.inSpectrum stated that the spot price of 1Gb DDR grew by about 6-7% this week, with the price of branded chips pegged at US$1.26 as of the noon session of July 31. The rise of DDR3 prices also continued this week with most 1Gb DDR3 chips settling at above US$1.90.Despite news about Samsung's strong stance for DDR2 pricing helped drive up spot pricing this week, inSpectrum expects the large supply of DDR2 chips in the channel will make the price increase difficult to maintain.As for the strong price of DDR3, inSpectrum stressed that availability of DDR3 in the channel is still very limited, meaning the recent price surge is supported by sentiment rather than solid demand from end users.In fact, once chip prices of 1Gb DDR3 are quoted above US$2, many brokers/traders in the spot market would be hesitant to buy as the translated average selling price (ASP) of a 2GB DDR3 module would have grown to over US$30, inSpectrum predicted.For the NAND flash market, anticipation of a price recovery of low-density memory cards amid the speculated Toshiba fab power outage spurred prices of low-density 16Gb NAND flash chip to increase by more than 8% this week to US$4.40 as of the noon session of July 31.inSpectrum attributes the solid price growth of low-density NAND flash to improving demand for 1GB and 2GB microSD cards from handset and camera vendors, which find their sales have improved a lot during the summer holidays. The price of 1GB and 2GB microSD card has grown by 9% and 10%, respectively, this week, the firm stated. inSpectrum estimates that over 60% of global demand for NAND flash will be come from the handset and camera segments in the third quarter of 2009. inSpectrum: Spot price for mainstream 1Gb DRAM chips, Jul 27-31 (US$) Date Branded DDR2 White brand DDR2 Branded DDR3 2009/07/24 1.19 1.14 1.87 2009/07/27 1.19 1.14 1.9 2009/07/28 1.23 1.19 1.9 2009/07/29 1.27 1.22 1.92 2009/07/30 1.26 1.22 1.93 2009/07/31 1.26 1.22 1.93 Source: inSpectrum, compiled by Digitimes, July 2009 inSpectrum: Spot price for mainstream MLC NAND flash, Jul 27-31 (US$) Date 16Gb 32Gb 2009/07/24 3.99 5.83 2009/07/27 4.06 5.94 2009/07/28 4.15 5.98 2009/07/29 4.40 6.08 2009/07/30 4.40 6.01 2009/07/31 4.40 5.99 Source: inSpectrum, compiled by Digitimes, July 2009

Production cutbacks and demand for restocking inventory from emerging markets pushed up NAND flash ASPs by about 20% sequentially in the second quarter of 2009, according to DRAMeXchange. The price rally contributed to major NAND flash suppliers' revenue growth for the quarter.The global top-six NAND flash chip suppliers generated combined revenues of around US$2.79 billion in the second quarter, up 33.6% from US$2.09 billion in the first, said DRAMeXchange. In line with the sales growth, the branded companies also saw their combined shipments up 10% on quarter.Samsung Electronics continued to lead the NAND flash market in the second quarter, but its share slid to 36%, from 37.2% in the first, data compiled by DRAMeXchange showed. Toshiba retained second place with a 34.5% share in the second quarter, while Hynix Semiconductor resumed its seat among the top-three suppliers.Hynix slipped to the fourth in the first quarter, due to insufficient funds for technology migration and the phase-out of its 200mm (8-inch) wafer production, according to previous reports. DRAMeXchange: Global Top-6 NAND flash vendors revenues and market share, 2Q09 (US$m) 2Q09 1Q09 Revenue growth Q/Q Revenues Market share Revenues Market share Samsung 1,037 37.2 % 750 36.0% 36.0% Toshiba 960 34.5% 740 35.5% 35.5% Hynix 288 10.3% 171 8.2% 8.2% Micron 236 8.5% 200 9.6% 9.6% Intel 193 6.9% 155 7.4% 7.4% Numonyx 72 2.6% 70 3.4% 3.4% Total 2,786 - 2,086 - - Source: DRAMeXchange, compiled by Digitimes, July 2009

Micron Technology has announced what it claims to be the industry's first DDR3 load-reduced, dual-inline memory module (LRDIMM) for servers. The new LRDIMMs will be manufactured using Micron's 1.35 volt, 2Gb 50nm DDR3 memory chips.Micron's LRDIMMs currently use Inphi's recently announced isolation memory buffer (iMB) chip in place of a register to reduce the bus load when transferring data between the memory and processor. The new LRDIMMs reduce this load by 50% for a dual-rank module and 75% for a quad-rank module, when compared to today's standard DDR3 server modules – registered DIMMs (RDIMMs).Using RDIMMs can accommodate up to three quad-rank 16GB RDIMMS per processor. However, that same system can support up to nine quad-rank 16GB LRDIMMS per processor, pushing the memory capacity from 48GB to 144GB, Micron said. The new 16GB LRDIMM offers an increase of 57% in system memory bandwidth when compared to an RDIMM.Citing Gartner, Micron said most mid-range enterprise servers today utilize approximately 32GB of DRAM per system, and the capacity is expected to more than triple by 2012.Micron is currently sampling an 8GB LRDIMM devices with select enablers, according to the company. Mass production of its 16GB LRDIMMs is expected to begin in the fourth quarter.

VIA Technologies has announced that Aaeon Technology has adopted its C7 and Eden processors in its the latest ETX motherboard.Designed for niche applications that require high-resolution and dual-channel display support, the ETX-CX700M motherboard is suitable for electronic gaming and entertainment systems. The motherboard combines VIA processors and the VIA CX700M system media processor, providing a range of expansion and storage options and 24-bit dual-channel configurations of LVDS, CRT, DVI and TV outputs.Aaeon ETX-CX700M motherboard based on VIA platformPhoto: Company

Storage and networking solution provider LSI has launched a new generation of MegaRAID SATA+SAS RAID controller cards based on 6Gb/s SAS technology and announced its new channel strategy for worldwide customers.Compared with 3Gb/s predecessors, the 6Gb/s SAS RAID-on-chip (ROC) system provides more video streams, more database transactions and faster backups, so the MegaRAID 9200 series controllers can double the data transfer rate and deliver up to 2.88 GB/s in sequential reads and 1.87 GB/s in sequential writes, the company claimed. The 9200 series controllers also provide channel customers with a low-cost upgrade that is designed to easily integrate with existing 3Gb/s SATA and SAS infrastructure, the company said.The controllers also support both high-performance SAS hard drives and cost-effective, high-capacity SATA drives, as well as energy-efficient solid state drives (SSDs) and bring standardized zoning which improves storage efficiencies by allowing multiple servers to share storage devices. They come with four ports and eight ports to reach up to a storage capacity of 480 terabytes, indicated Suresh Panikar, senior manager of worldwide channel partner marketing and communications at LSI.The new LSI MegaRAID controllers include five models - MegaRAID 9260-8i (eight internal ports), MegaRAID 9260-4i (four internal ports), MegaRAID 9280-8e (eight external ports), MegaRAID 9260DE-8i and MegaRAID 9280DE-8e. The 9260-8i is available now while the rest will be available by September.In addition to the next-generation product, the company announced it has teamed up with channel partners include vertical OEMs (VOEMs), direct market resellers (DMRs), resellers, and distributors to service its customers worldwide. LSI also provides forward looking fundings to those channel partners quarterly in advance for them to have more sufficient resources in promoting and selling LSI products."LSI's strong channel partnerships are a key strategic advantage in the marketplace and central to the company's business strategy," said Phil Bullinger, executive vice president and general manager of the Engenio Storage Group at LSI. Panikar also expects this strong channel base to bring a lot more revenues to the company.LSI MegaRAID controllersPhoto: Company

Amid a shortage of DDR3 memory and a resulting rise in pricing, iSuppli has upgraded its rating of near-term conditions for DRAM suppliers to positive. The research firm had maintained its negative rating since September 2008 until it upgraded the condition to neutral two weeks ago."The improvement in circumstances is a welcome relief to a DRAM market that has been stuck in a state of oversupply for nearly three years," said Nam Hyung Kim, chief analyst for iSuppli. "The oversupply has been a disaster for the global DRAM industry, with revenues dropping from US$34 billion in 2006 to US$23.6 billion in 2008." During this period, the profitability of DRAM suppliers evaporated completely, and the combined operating loss for the entire DRAM industry amounted to US$15 billion during the last three years."With rising demand and limited supply for DDR3, the global DRAM industry is set for a sustainable recovery that will extend into the fourth quarter and pave the way for a robust annual increase in 2010," Kim continued.DRAM revenues plunged by 19.5% in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, according to iSuppli. However, with the rise in DRAM pricing, revenues increased by 37.5% in the second quarter compared to the first. Revenues are set to continue to rise on a sequential basis by more than 20% each in the third and fourth quarters, the research firm forecast.In addition, Kim observed a shortage of DDR3 chips during his visit to Asia. "The suppliers reported PC OEMs are making a rapid shift from DDR2 DRAM, which has been the industry standard for nearly three years, to DDR3. However, they have not yet ramped up production of DDR3 enough to meet this new demand," according to Kim.DDR3 captured only 8.4% of total bit shipment in first-quarter 2009 and is estimated to reach 15% of total bit shipment in the second quarter, iSuppli indicated. The research firm now predicts the DDR3 shortage will persist during the third quarter because suppliers won't be able to meet current demand.While the limited investment of DRAM suppliers is slowing their 50nm migration—a process necessary to ramp up DDR3 production quickly—the DDR3 shortage will cause supplies of DDR2 to tighten as first-tier suppliers continue to convert production from DDR2 to DDR3, iSuppli noted.However, if DDR2 prices rise, Taiwan-based suppliers are likely to increase their utilization rates limiting price increases, iSuppli warned. Thus, a recovery in DDR2 prices could be limited, widening the price gap between DDR2 and DDR3. The price crossover between DDR2 and DDR3 is likely to arrive near end-2009 or in early 2010, iSuppli expects."Prices are rising in the third quarter, a time when DRAM buyers typically begin to make purchases for the holiday season," Kim noted. "Adding to the current tight supply for notebook LCD panels, the increase in DRAM prices will result in lower profitability for the PC makers in the second half of the year."Source: iSuppli, compiled by Digitimes, July 2009

ARM has announced the availability of ultra low-power physical IP libraries to drive the next generation of energy-efficient microcontroller unit (MCU) devices.The ARM 0.18-micron ultra low-power libraries (uLL), coupled with the inherent power management advantages of the ARM Cortex processor family and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)'s 0.18-micron embedded flash uLL/HDR "high data retention" process provides SoC designers with additional reduction in power leakage up to 10x compared to 0.18-micron G implementations, ARM said.The ARM libraries, combined with the ARM Cortex-M and Cortex-R profile processors, provide an alternative to companies that are accustomed to a multiple MCU system approach. Utilizing an advanced ultra low-power, single 32-bit MCU and optimized ARM libraries for the TSMC 0.18-micron uLL embedded flash/HDR process, designers can increase their design efficiency and lower overall system cost, ARM said. This combination of physical IP, processor architecture and leading-edge manufacturing technology enables the development of enhanced 32-bit MCUs for automotive, consumer appliance, sensor, lighting, e-metering, smart control and gaming devices, the company said.

The Taipei Computer Association (TCA) expects its upcoming Taipei Computer Application Show (TCAS), which will be held from July 30 to August 3 at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, to bring in business opportunities worth NT$8.8 billion (US$268.9 million).TCA cited a survey that showed around 80% of the expected visitors are willing to making purchase at the show.Notebook vendor Asustek Computer will launch its 11.6-inch Eee PC 1101HA netbook and UX30 ultra-thin notebook at the show, while Hewlett-Packard (HP) will also launch its 11.6-inch Mini 110 netbook.Asustek recently introduced two new Eee PC seashell models – the Eee PC 1101HA and Eee PC 1005HA – sporting 11.6- and 10.1-inch LED-backlit screens, and with claimed battery lives of 11 and 10.5 hours on a single charge.Asustek 11.6-inch Eee PC 1101HA and 10.1-inch Eee PC 1005HA netbooksPhoto: Company