SK hynix unveils the world's fastest HBM3 premium memory chip

[Photo provided by SK hynix Inc.]

South Korea’s SK hynix Inc. unveiled the High Bandwidth Memory 3 (HBM3), the fourth generation of the HBM memory chips, which boasts of the world’s fastest data processing speed, raising the bar for the premium memory for high-performance data centers and supercomputers, the company announced Wednesday.

SK hynix pioneered the high-performance, premium memory chip development after it released the first generation HBM in 2013 for the first time in the world. The latest development is another upgrade to the third generation HBM2E, which the company started mass-producing in July 2020.

The new HBM3 can process data at a speed of 819 gigabyte (GB) per second, a 78 percent increase from HBM2E and the fastest speed in the world that enables the transmission of 163 full-HD movies (5GB size for each) in just a single second, according to the company.

It also self-corrects data errors through the built-in on-die error-correction code, significantly enhancing the reliability of the product, the company claimed.

SK hynix will offer two capacity types of 16GB and the industry’s biggest 24GB. For the 24GB product, the company stacked 12 16GB chips that are 30 micrometers thick each, equivalent to a third of an A4 paper’s thickness, using the Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology, thereby decreasing both chip size and power consumption while bolstering capacity.

The high-value HBM3 is a memory solution optimized for high-performance data centers and machine learning platforms that require supercomputing performance. It is expected to be adopted in conducting climate change analysis and drug development. Its mass production will begin in mid-2022 timed with customers’ launching of servers and supercomputing systems adopting HBM3, a company source said.

“We will exert our best efforts to cement our leadership in the premium memory market and drive value for our customers by maintaining high ESG management standards across our value chain,” said Cha Seon-yong, executive vice president in charge of DRAM development.

SK hynix shares finished Thursday down 1.63 percent at 96,300 won ($81.8) in Seoul.

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