Samsung Electronics has commenced mass production of the industry’s first 16-gigabit (Gb) LPDDR5 mobile DRAM at its second production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea, setting a new milestone in DRAM scaling at advanced nodes.

Built on Samsung’s third-generation 10nm-class process to support extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology, the new 16Gb LPDDR5 boasts the highest mobile memory performance and largest capacity to enable more consumers to enjoy the full benefits of 5G and artificial intelligence features in next-generation smartphones, the company said on Sunday.

The company said its new production line will serve as the key manufacturing hub for the industry’s most advanced semiconductor technologies, delivering cutting-edge DRAM followed by next-generation V-NAND and foundry solutions, while reinforcing the company’s leadership in the Industry 4.0 era.

Samsung’s new 16Gb LPDDR5 is the first memory to be mass produced using EUV technology, providing the highest speed and largest capacity available in mobile DRAM, the company said in a statement.

At 6,400 megabits per second, the new DRAM chip is about 16 percent faster than the 12Gb LPDDR5 (5,500Mb/s) found in most of today’s flagship mobile devices. When made into a 16GB package, the LPDDR5 can transfer about 10 5GB-sized full-HD movies, or 51.2GB of data, in one second. The LPDDR5 package is 30 percent thinner than its predecessor, enabling 5G smartphones and other advanced digital devices to pack more functionality into a slim design. The 16Gb LPDDR5 can build a 16GB package with only eight chips, whereas its predecessor requires 12 chips (eight 12Gb chips and four 8Gb chips) to provide the same capacity.

Spanning more than 128,900 square meters, equivalent to about 16 soccer fields, the new plant whose construction began in January 2018 is the world’s largest-scale semiconductor production line to date.

While maintaining its leadership in the global memory chip market, Samsung is boldly expanding into mobile application processors, CMOS image sensors and system semiconductor products.

Samsung already closed the gap with market leader Intel to below 5 percent this year. According to Omdia’s latest data on Monday, the global market share of Intel and Samsung in terms of second-quarter revenue was 17.45 percent and 12.49 percent, respectively. In the first quarter, the two industry leaders accounted for 17.71 percent and 12.48 percent, respectively.

Samsung is expected to further close its gap with Intel into 4.02 percent in the third quarter, driven by sustained demand for mobile DRAM and NAND flash chips from cloud computing companies.

By: DocMemory
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