Samsung validating new DDR5-7200 DRAM ICs with AMD:
Samsung on Wednesday said (opens in new tab) it had developed its new 16Gb DDR5 memory chips featuring data transfer rates of up to 7200 MT/s. The new ICs will be mass produced next year using the company's latest 12nm DRAM process technology. At present, the company is validating its latest memory devices with AMD.
In addition to being fast, Samsung's 16Gb DDR5 memory chips made using its 12nm node are said to consume up to 23% less power than predecessors (albeit it is unknown at which speed bin) and enable a 20% higher wafer productivity, which essentially means that they are about 20% smaller compared to predecessors and therefore may be cheaper to produce.
The increased bit density and higher default data transfer rates imply that Samsung's 12nm DRAM process technology will enable the company to make higher-density memory ICs as well as devices with higher-than-7200 MT/s speed in the future.
Memory chips rated for an up to 7200 MT/s data transfers at nominal voltage promise to significantly increase performance of next-generation PCs that will be able to take advantage of them. Also, these ICs promise to further push boundaries of DDR5 overclocking for enthusiasts, so we should expect even faster DDR5 modules in 2023 and beyond. Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that right now the company is validating its latest DDR5-7200 chips with AMD, which may imply (although this is a speculation) that the CPU designer plans to support this speed bin rather sooner than later.
[...] To get a memory subsystem featuring a 7200 MT/s data transfer rate today, one needs to either use memory modules created for overclockers that usually run at higher-than-nominal voltage or LPDDR5X memory chips. In the former case, the memory subsystem will be power hungry and expensive, whereas in the latter case it will be expensive. Conventional DDR5-7200 memory chips with nominal voltages allow to increase memory bandwidth considerably cheaper.
Samsung's 12nm production node is the company's 5th Generation 10nm-class fabrication process for DRAMs and its 2nd generation technology for memory that uses extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). Usage of multiple EUV layers enables Samsung to print circuits faster (i.e., without using multi-patterning) and with greater precision, which may translate into lower costs as well as higher performance and/or power efficiency. In addition to more extensive usage of EUV, Samsung also implemented a new high-k material and refined designs of critical circuits.
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Samsung to lower memory prices and expand production capacity to regain market share
Samsung is preparing to weather the upcoming 2023 recessionary period in its own typical way by expanding memory production capacity and slashing DRAM chip prices significantly. This way it will be able to preserve and increase its pole position in terms of memory market share and, contrary to its competitors like Micron or SK Hynix, Samsung will be investing in new manufacturing lines, rather than slashing its capital expenditure program and laying off workers.
Samsung did this the last time there was a recession in the IT industry like the one the market is going through now, and it is now projected to add a new line for the novel 12nm DRAM chips which it unveiled not long ago that will increase its total memory manufacturing capacity by more than 10%.
Related:
Samsung DDR5-7200 Memory Chips: Small Dies, Extreme Performance
Micron Delays EUV RAM to 2025, Lays Off 10% of Workforce
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday December 24, @07:36PM
Let's see some 24 Gb [anandtech.com] and 32 Gb dies, for lower cost per bit.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]