{
 "id": "2.04",
 "slug": "memory-interface-buffer-chips-rcd-db",
 "url": "/parts/memory-and-storage/memory-interface-buffer-chips-rcd-db",
 "name": "Memory interface / buffer chips",
 "qualifiers": "RCD, DB, MRCD/MDB",
 "layer": {
  "id": 2,
  "name": "Memory & storage"
 },
 "parent_id": null,
 "children": [],
 "summary": "Small companion chips on a memory module that buffer and re-drive command, address, and data signals so many DRAM chips can be packed per module without losing signal integrity.",
 "description_md": "Buffer and register chips sit on the memory module (2.03) itself, between the CPU's memory controller and the DRAM ranks it is addressing — a purely signal-integrity role that becomes necessary once a module carries enough DRAM chips that direct connections would no longer hold a clean signal. AI-era platforms pushing toward higher-capacity, higher-rank modules make this chip closer to mandatory rather than optional, since it is what lets a module scale in capacity at all without a corresponding loss in speed or reliability. For an investor, this is a narrow analog and mixed-signal niche: the design is tied to memory standard cycles set by the industry standards body, so a new DRAM generation forces a fresh qualification round that resets which suppliers hold the design win, and the pool of qualified suppliers per generation is small.",
 "ai_delta": "Higher-capacity, higher-rank modules needed to keep memory in step with AI-era core and accelerator counts make buffer and register chips a near-mandatory part of the module rather than an optional add-on.",
 "bottleneck_status": null,
 "scale_tiers": [
  "edge",
  "enterprise",
  "hyperscale_building",
  "ai_campus",
  "gw_class"
 ],
 "density_modes": [
  "any"
 ],
 "scale_notes": "Presence depends on module design — registered and load-reduced modules carry these chips, simpler unbuffered modules do not — so it tracks platform choice as much as facility scale.",
 "flow": [
  "compute",
  "data"
 ],
 "companies": [
  {
   "company_id": "montage",
   "name": "Montage",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "688008.SS",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "rambus",
   "name": "Rambus",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "RMBS",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "renesas",
   "name": "Renesas",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "6723.T",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  }
 ]
}