Samsung announced on August 30th that they had begun mass producing their most advanced Dynamic Random-Access Memory chips yet. The 16 GB LPDDR5 DRAM chips are designed for mobile devices and are manufactured at the company’s South Korean Pyeongtaek plant.
They are using a process that incorporates lasers and light-sensitive materials to etch silicon. The process has allowed them to crack a significant developmental challenge in scaling RAM, giving the industry more room to grow.
Currently, Samsung is the leader in the DRAM market. This new invention will allow them to extend their lead.
The biggest Samsung division
The DRAM market is an important one for Samsung, as it accounts for about two-thirds of its overall revenue. This is a massive piece of the pie, compared to their smartphone and home appliance sales.
Samsung said that the EUV manufacturing process would make the chips 30% thinner than the previous generations. They are also faster, with transfer rates of 6,400 megabits per second. That means you can send 50GB of data in one second.
Jung-Bae Lee, the exec Veep of DRAM Product & Technology at the South Korean tech giant, said that this would enable them to continue leading the overall memory market.
A new generation of RAM
Samsung said that they would combine eight of these chips to create a RAM package with 16GB of memory, to be used in the next generation of smartphones that will hit the market next year.
The smaller size of these chips means that the smartphones will get slimmer or allow for more room for things like cameras and batteries. The phones will perform demanding tasks faster and better, allowing you to run heavy apps simultaneously.