Elpida Memory, Japan’s leading supplier of computer memory, said Tuesday it was close to begin making DDR2 SDRAM memory using its advanced process technology with the aim to address higher-end applications with 533MHz and 667MHz chips.

“Elpida strives to offer the industry stable production of high-performance DRAM products,” said Yukio Sakamoto, president of Elpida Memory.

The company said mass production of DDR2 SDRAM at speeds of 533MHz and 667MHz using 0.10 micron fabrication process and 300mm wafers would begin in August, 2004. Earlier the memory firm produced its 1Gb and 512Mb DDR2 chips for servers using 0.11 micron process technology.

 “Our ability to mass manufacture 0.10 micron DRAM enables us to meet increased demand for advanced DDR2 SDRAM as the industry transitions from DDR to DDR2 architecture,” Mr. Sakamoto added.

High-speed dynamic random access memory chips are cheaper to produce using thinner manufacturing technology. 0.10 micron and more advanced processes are likely to enable more cost-effective DDR2 products at speeds of 533MHz and 667MHz, which is likely to speed up the transition to DDR2. Other leading memory makers, such as Samsung and Hynix, also tend to produce high-performance DDR2 products using 0.10 micron technology.

Elpida plans to increase production capacity of 0.10 micron-based products to more than 50% of their 300mm wafer line capacity by January 2005, the company said.