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Samsung's 12-nanometer process technology-based 16-gigabit DDR5 DRAM memory chips / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Electronics developed the industry's first 16-gigabit DDR5 DRAM memory chip using 12-nanometer process technology as part of its efforts to achieve a huge lead over its competitors in the memory chip business, according to the company Wednesday.
Samsung announced the development of the smaller, faster and less energy consuming chips, adding that it also evaluated the product's compatibility with U.S. chip company AMD.
Samsung also said it will mass produce the latest memory chips next year, targeting data center, artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation computing service markets.
"Our 12nm-range DRAM will be a key enabler in driving the market-wide adoption of DDR5 DRAM," Lee Joo-young, executive vice president of DRAM Product & Technology at Samsung, said. "With exceptional performance and power efficiency, we expect our new DRAM to serve as the foundation for more sustainable operations in areas such as next-generation computing, data centers and AI-driven systems."
Samsung added that the latest memory chip was developed using multi-layer extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography to have the industry's highest die density and to enable the chipmaker achieve a 20 percent gain in wafer productivity.
The 12-nanometer DRAM has a speed of up to 7.2 gigabits per second that can process two ultra-high definition movies with a capacity of 30 gigabytes, respectively, in just one second. The product also improved its power consumption by 23 percent compared to the previous generation.
Samsung expects it can retain a huge lead over its competitors. Samsung has led the global DRAM market with a share of over 40 percent, followed by SK hynix with around a 30 percent share and Micron with around 25 percent.