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Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said today that it has started mass production of its most advanced dynamic random access memory chips to date.
The 16-gigabyte LPDDR5 DRAM chip is designed for mobile devices and is manufactured at the company’s Pyeongtaek plant in South Korea, using a new process called extreme ultraviolet lithography. That process involves the use of lasers and light-sensitive chemicals to etch the silicon, and overcomes a “major development hurdle” in RAM scaling, providing much more room for the industry to grow.
The South Korean tech giant is the world market leader for DRAMs, and the arrival of new chips makes it likely that the company could expand that lead. It is also an important market for Samsung, with the memory chip business accounting for about two-thirds of its total revenue, dwarfing other businesses such as its smartphone unit and its home appliance division.
Samsung said the EUV manufacturing process results in a chip that is 30% thinner than its previous generation chips. But despite the smaller size, the chips are also faster, with average data transfer rates of 6,400 megabits per second. That means it can send 51.2GB of data, or the equivalent of 10 5GB movies, in just one second.
“The 1z-based 16Gb LPDDR5 raises the industry to a new threshold, overcoming a significant development hurdle in scaling DRAM in advanced nodes,” said Jung-Bae Lee, Samsung executive vice president of DRAM Product and Technology. “We will continue to expand our premium DRAM line and exceed customer demands as we lead the growth of the overall memory market.”
Samsung said it will combine eight of the new chips to form a 16GB RAM package that is intended for the next generation of premium smartphones that will arrive in 2021. The smaller size of the chips will mean thinner smartphone designs or more space. for other components such as batteries and cameras. Additionally, the new 16GB LPDDR5-based smartphones will have much more leeway to run concurrent applications and perform more demanding tasks.
Samsung is also targeting the auto industry, where the new chips could be used to power faster and more powerful infotainment systems.
Image: Samsung
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