Samsung samples world’s fastest GDDR6 memory using EUV tech

Chip-to-smartphone giant Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has unveiled the industry’s fastest GDDR6-standard memory chips for next-generation graphics cards, using the cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet photolithography process.

The newest third-generation 10 nanometer-class GDDR6 DRAM is designed to deliver 30 percent faster processing speeds than its predecessor, as they feature 24 gigabits-per-second data transfer rate per pin. The predecessor, featuring speeds of 18 Gbps, has been mass produced since 2018.

According to Samsung, the new memory chips theoretically boast 1.1 terabytes-per-second download speed, enabling the download of 275 full-HD movies for a second, when the memory chips are integrated into a premium graphics card.

Samsung added the new chips are engineered with the High-K Metal Gate technology to minimize the current leakage with the insulating material, and are compliant with the JEDEC standards so that the chips would be compatible with all of the world‘s graphics processing unit designs.

The graphic DRAM will be applicable not only to personal computers, laptops and game consoles, but also to high-performance computing of supercomputers, autonomous driving and electric cars.

“The explosion of data now being driven by the artificial intelligence and the metaverse is pushing the need for greater graphics capabilities that can process massive data sets simultaneously, at extremely high speeds,” Daniel Lee, executive vice president of the Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

The new chips will be sampled for customer validations starting July, according to Samsung.

Samsung is the first company to have mass-produced the memory chips using the EUV lithography technology in 2021.

(consnow@heraldcorp.com)