In short: Samsung is enhancing its GDDR6 portfolio with a brand new module able to knowledge switch charges of 24Gbps per pin. That is largely geared toward high-end graphics playing cards and AI accelerators, however the firm may also be making low-power variants for different functions.
Samsung at this time introduced the trade’s first 24Gbps GDDR6 RAM which is able to energy the following era of graphics playing cards from Nvidia and AMD, in addition to laptops, sport consoles, and AI accelerators for the info heart.
The Korean tech large says it has already begun sampling the brand new reminiscence chips with a capability of 16Gb and says its prospects will start verification assessments someday later this month. Moreover, industrial availability will likely be aligned with upcoming GPU launches, so it will not be lengthy earlier than we’ll see 24Gbps GDDR6 in delivery merchandise.
One of many apparent advantages of this new GDDR6 module is that it may ship 30 p.c quicker speeds when in comparison with Samsung’s earlier 18Gbps module. In different phrases, a completely decked out premium graphics card will be capable to obtain a reminiscence bandwidth of as much as 1.1 Tbps — the equal of transferring 275 1080p motion pictures in a single second.
Not like GDDR6X, which was developed by Micron in collaboration with Nvidia, Samsung’s new GDDR6 DRAM is absolutely compliant with JEDEC specs. It is also anticipated to be much less energy hungry because of using high-k metallic gate know-how. That additionally means it’s going to run cooler than GDDR6X whereas offering higher efficiency and be cheaper to fabricate.
Talking of producing, Samsung is making the brand new GDDR6 lineup on a 10nm (1z) course of node. And whereas the corporate primarily targets GPUs and AI accelerators with the brand new tech, it’s going to even be making 20Gbps and 16Gbps variants for low-power functions. To that finish, Samsung can also be utilizing dynamic voltage switching tech that may modify between 1.1V and 1.35V to attain 20 p.c extra energy effectivity the place wanted.
It is value noting that Samsung believes the high-performance graphics market will see wholesome double-digit development within the coming years. The corporate desires a large piece of that more and more massive pie, so it has been making each attainable effort to beat TSMC within the race to develop main chip manufacturing strategies.
Final month, it began manufacturing chips on a 3nm course of at its Hwaseong amenities. Whether or not or not that will likely be sufficient to get corporations like Nvidia stays to be seen, however Samsung stays the world chief within the DRAM area with a market share of just about 44 p.c.