Cooperating and Competing at the Same Time
Samsung Electronics is expanding its cooperation with Intel in order to lead the next-generation DRAM chip sector. Intel recently decided to make a large-scale investment in the foundry sector. In other words, the two companies are cooperating and competing at the same time.
Samsung Electronics announced on March 25 that it developed a 512 GB DDR5 memory module, the largest capacity in the industry. The fifth-generation product provides a maximum data transmission rate of 7,200 Mbps, more than twice the rate of DDR4. Also, the product comes with eight layers of 16 Gb through-silicon vias stacked for capacity maximization whereas four layers are mainly used in DDR4.
In addition, the high-k metal gate process has been applied for the first time. This technology is to minimize power consumption based on a quick and firm current outlet closing for leakage current reduction. According to Samsung Electronics, the product is approximately 13 percent more efficient in terms of power consumption.
DDR5 is likely to become the mainstream of the market while improving its performance. According to market research firm Omdia, DDR5 shipments are expected to grow from 0.6 percent to 53.2 percent of the DRAM market from this year to 2024.
The growth requires collaboration with Intel, which designs and manufactures CPUs. The company is expected to release products compatible with DDR5 in the second half of this year. Samsung Electronics is planning to commercialize large-capacity DDR5 products in step.
“Next-generation DDR5 memory chips are becoming increasingly important in relation to cloud data centers, network and edge computing, and so on as an exponentially increasing amount of data needs to be processed,” Intel explained, adding, “We are working closely with Samsung Electronics to develop DDR5 memory chips compatible with our Sapphire Rapids.”