256-megabit-dram

A 256-megabit DRAM stores 268,435,456 bits, or 32 MiB. It is four times the bit capacity of a 64-megabit device. The number describes stored information rather than the amount transferred in a single operation. A system can connect several such devices to obtain a wider interface and a larger aggregate memory capacity.

A development announcement is not the same as production availability. Samsung’s historical account identifies development of a 256Mb DRAM in 1994. That is a research and development milestone as described by the company. It should not be silently converted into a claim that every manufacturer or consumer system used mass-produced 256Mb chips in that year.

Density growth makes manufacturability central to the story. A useful chip must contain a very large population of functioning storage cells and supporting circuits. Redundancy and test can address some defects, but usable yield still depends on process control and design. A working demonstration and a cost-effective product answer different engineering questions.

The interface generation remains an independent attribute. A 256-megabit device can be discussed in the context of a particular synchronous interface, but its capacity alone does not identify that protocol. State the device family, data width, voltage, and timing specification rather than assuming that every chip of the same density belongs on the same module.

The capacity arithmetic is straightforward when bits and bytes stay distinct. Eight 256-megabit chips contain 256 MiB of raw storage. That illustrative total excludes any system-specific use of chips for parity or ECC. The distinction is especially important in historical summaries that abbreviate both megabits and megabytes as an ambiguous “mega” value.

Sources and further reading. [Samsung historical account](https://news.samsung.com/global/history-of-samsung-11-adoption-of-new-corporate-identity-and-development-of-worlds-first-256-mega-dram-semiconductor-1993-1997).

Read 256-megabit DRAM as a thirty-two-mebibyte-per-chip density milestone whose commercialization required more than demonstrating a larger array.