The average amount of DRAM used in smartphones is set to rise by more than a factor of 10, growing to 1.3-Gbytes by 2014, up from 123-Mbytes in 2009, according to iSuppli Corp.

DRAMs used in smartphones is expected to grow from 123-Mbytes in 2009, to 212-Mbytes in 2010, to 353-Mbytes in 2011, to 562-Mbytes in 2012, to 862-Mbytes in 2013, according to the firm.

As a result, two memory vendors--Elpida Memory Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.--made recent and separate moves to get a piece of the growing business.

Micron recently agreed to acquire Numonyx Holdings B.V. in a stock transaction valued at $1.27 billion. The deal now propels Micron (Boise, Ida.) into the NOR and phase-change memory (PCM) sectors. Micron also expands its thrust into NAND flash.

Spansion Inc. recently that Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. has acquired a portion of its research and development assets, but declined to provide further details, including the value of the deal. Elpida may have acquired Spansion's MirrorBit NAND technology, according to an analyst.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. offers DRAM, NOR and NAND. Toshiba Corp. only offers NAND.

"Mobile customers usually purchase memory in multi chip packages (MCPs) that include both mobile DRAM and some non-volatile memory such as NOR or NAND," said Mike Howard, senior analyst for DRAM at iSuppli, in a statement.

"This makes it essential to have a complete portfolio of memory products in order to compete in the mobile market. Thus, it shouldn't be that much of a shock that after Micron announced it was going to purchase NOR flash memory heavyweight Numonyx, Elpida followed with news that it would be acquiring a significant portion of Spansion's flash memory assets," he said.

Elpida, which doesn't manufacture NOR or NAND, had been in the unenviable position of having to rely on its competitors for parts to compete in the mobile memory market.

"By buying Spansion's assets, Elpida at least will have more control over its supply chain and design process moving forward," Howard said. "Will the acquisition pay off? Time will tell."