Samsung's GDDR7 wins Presidential Prize as key memory in AI era

Visitors view a display of Samsung’s sixth-generation HBM4 and high-speed GDDR7 graphics memory at the K-Tech Showcase in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Oct. 28. (Yonhap)

Samsung’s 24-gigabit GDDR7 DRAM, introduced in late 2024, has received South Korea’s top government technology award just as it nears commercial deployment in next-generation graphics processing units and artificial intelligence systems.

Awarded the Presidential Prize at the 2025 Korea Tech Festival on Wednesday, Samsung’s chip is recognized for both technical innovation and its growing role in the AI hardware market. Built on a 12-nanometer process, the GDDR7 chip delivers a peak bandwidth of 40 gigabits per second with 24 gigabits of storage capacity per chip. This is a high-speed, high-density combination now seen as key to powering real-time AI inference, high-resolution gaming and edge computing.

The 24Gb density allows GPU makers to double video memory without increasing chip size. The 40Gbps data rate enables much faster communication between GPU and memory, which is vital for AI models that need to process vast amounts of data instantly. Samsung also introduced power-saving features like PAM3 signaling and power gating, improving energy efficiency by over 30 percent compared to the previous generation.

Unlike high bandwidth memory, which dominates AI training in large data centers, GDDR7 offers a more affordable, lower-power alternative suited for consumer GPUs, edge devices and enterprise inference workloads.

Nvidia’s latest RTX 5090 gaming GPUs use Samsung’s GDDR7. The company has already announced plans to equip its upcoming Rubin CPX AI processor with 128 gigabytes of the same memory.

Samsung faces competition from SK hynix, whose GDDR7 chips began production in late 2024 with standard speeds of 32Gbps and peak performance up to 40Gbps in optimal conditions.