Memory IC maker Elpida announced yesterday that it has transitioned its Munich DRAM R&D facility to full-scale operation.

Originally serving as a GDDR (graphics DDR) lab, the firm’s August acquisition of Qimonda’s GDDR3 and GDDR5 assets has allowed Elpida to shift the lab into high gear. Operating at full clip, the firm intends to perform R&D for post-GDDR5 technologies as well as development and evaluation for existing memory technologies.

Having assumed Qimonda’s position in the GDDR market, Elpida intends to become a major competitor to market rivals Hynix and Samsung.

As a first order of business, the company has recently finished development of a 128 megabyte GDDR5 IC capable of speeds up to 2GHz. The firm will follow that launch with volume production of GDDR3 in 1H10 and a 256 megabyte GDDR5 chip in 2H10, the latter of which could enable consumer-level GPUs with standard configurations of 2GB.