Samsung Electronics develops 12-nanometer DDR5 DRAM

Samsung Electronics has developed a high-performance, low-power Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) memory chip marketed as 12 nanometers, an industry first, the chipmaker said Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics' 16-gigabyte Double Data Rate 5 based on 12-nanometer process nodes [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics has developed a high-performance, low-power Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) memory chip marketed as 12 nanometers, an industry first, the chipmaker said Wednesday.

Compatibility tests of 16-gigabyte, 12-nanometer DDR5 dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips were recently completed with AMD microprocessors.

Commercial production will begin next year.

DDR5 is an advanced DRAM standard with faster speeds and improved energy efficiency compared to DDR4, or Double Data Rate 4, and therefore is well suited for data-intensive applications such as machine learning and big data.

The latest DDR5 DRAM memory chip can enable an internet speed of up to 7.2 gigabits per second, meaning that it can process two 30-gigabyte videos in one second, according to Samsung Electronics.

By using 12-nanometer nodes and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology, the company said that it improved wafer productivity by 20 percent. The new memory chip also consumes 23 percent less energy compared to the previous model.

“Our 12-nanometer-range DRAM will be a key enabler in driving market-wide adoption of DDR5 DRAM,” said Lee Joo-young, executive vice president at Samsung Electronics.

Joe Macri, senior vice president at AMD, said that “we are thrilled to once again collaborate with Samsung, particularly on introducing DDR5 memory products that are optimized and validated on ‘Zen’ platforms.”

Samsung added that it will extend its 12-nanometer DRAM line-up in the future.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]