Samsung starts mass production of what it says is the first 12Gb LPDDR5 mobile DRAM in the industry. Aimed at the premium smartphones of the future, the memory is optimised to enable 5G and AI features.
The announcement comes all of 5 months after Samsung started mass producing 12GB LPDDR4X memory, and just a month before it starts mass producing 12GB LPDDR5 packages combining eight of the 12Gb chips, in line with growing demand for higher performance and capacity from premium smartphone makers.
“With mass production of the 12Gb LPDDR5 built on Samsung’s latest second-generation 10-nanometer (nm) class process, we are thrilled to be supporting the timely launch of 5G flagship smartphones for our customers worldwide,” the company says. “Samsung remains committed to rapidly introducing next-generation mobile memory technologies that deliver greater performance and higher capacity, as we continue to aggressively drive growth of the premium memory market.”
The 12Gb LPDDR5 memory features a data rate of 5500MB/s, making it around 1.3x faster than previous mobile memory (LPDDR4X, 4266MB/s) found in current high-end smartphones. When made in a 12GB package, the LPDDR5 promises to transfer 44GB of data in all of a second. The chip also uses 30% less power through the integration of a circuit design with enhanced clocking, training and low-power features.
To manage production capacity with more flexibility Samsung is considering transferring 12Gb LPDDR5 production to its Pyeongtaek, S. Korea campus from 2020, depending on global demand. It also plans to develop a 16Gb LPDDR5 chip.
Go Samsung Begins Mass Production of Industry’s First 12Gb LPDDR5 Mobile DRAM for Premium Smartphones