SK hynix’s Gen5 DDR5 DRAM enters validation process

SK hynix said Tuesday that it has completed the development of the industry’s most advanced 10-nanometer technology-based DDR5 DRAM for servers and has entered a validation process together with US chip giant Intel.

The latest fifth-generation DDR5 DRAM is the first of its generation being tested at the Intel Data Center Certified memory program for DDR5 products to run on Intel Xeon Scalable platforms.

The chips boast an operating speed of 6.4 gigabits per second, the fastest speed among DRAM memory chips. This is 33 percent faster than its predecessors in the early days of DDR5 development.

With the adoption of High-K Metal Gate technology, which uses high dielectric constant dielectrics and metalized gates, the DDR5 DRAM reduces power consumption by over 20 percent, compared to those of the fourth-generation.

The chipmaker said it hopes the validation process of the product with Intel will go smoothly, as the company had obtained a validation in January for its fourth-generation DDR5 product, showing that it was compatible to run on 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

It also believes that the development of the latest technology will enable the company to provide both high-performance and performance-per-watt DRAM products to its global customers.

Kim Jong-hwan, SK hynix’s DRAM development head, said the company plans to apply the cutting-edge process to a wide range of products such as LPDDR5T, the industry's fastest mobile DRAM memory chips, and HBM3E, the fifth-generation high bandwidth memory product, in the first half of next year.

“Amid growing expectations that the memory market will start to recover from the second half, we believe our industry-leading DRAM technology, proven again through mass production of the 1bnm process this time, will help us improve earnings from the second half,” Kim said.

Meanwhile, SK hynix is also undergoing an additional validation process to apply its fourth-generation DDR5 product onto the next generation of the Intel Xeon Scalable platform.