Recently, Samsung Electronics announced that the development of its 8nm eMRAM has almost been completed and process upgrades is underway as planned.

According to a report from WeChat account DRAMeXchange, as a new type of non-volatile memory technology based on magnetic principles, eMRAM falls under the category of embedded MRAM (Magnetoresistive random-access memory). Compared to traditional DRAM, eMRAM offers faster access speeds and higher durability. Unlike DRAM, it does not require data refreshing, and its write rate is 1000 times that of NAND.

Due to these characteristics, the industry holds a positive outlook on the potential of eMRAM, especially in scenarios that demand high performance, energy efficiency, and durability.

Samsung Electronics is one of the main producers of eMRAM and is dedicated to promoting its adoption in the automotive sector. In 2019, Samsung developed and mass-produced the industry’s first eMRAM based on 28nm FD-SOI. After achieving the production capability of 28nm eMRAM, Samsung reportedly plans to mass-produce 14nm eMRAM in 2024, 8nm in 2026, and 5nm in 2027.

Samsung is confident about the application of eMRAM in future automotive uses, stating that its product’s temperature tolerance has reached 150-160°C, which can fully meet the stringent requirements of the automotive industry for semiconductors.

In recent years, the proliferation of big data and artificial intelligence applications has generated massive memory demands and placed higher requirements for memory technologies. Against this backdrop, new memory technologies have continuously emerged, among which SCM (Storage Class Memory) is a representative, which combines high-speed read and write performance of DRAM with the persistent storage capability of NAND flash, potentially addressing issues of small capacity, volatility, and high cost associated with DRAM. Key SCM products include phase-change memory (PCM), resistive RAM (ReRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), and nanotube RAM (NRAM).

Aside from Samsung, companies like Kioxia and ByteDance have also acted vigorously in the new memory field this year. In April, Kioxia’s CTO Hidefumi Miyajima stated that compared to competitors developing both NAND and DRAM, Kioxia is at a competitive disadvantage in terms of business diversity, making the cultivation of new memory product business like SCM a necessity. With this goal in mind, Kioxia reorganized its “Memory Technology Research Laboratory” into the “Advanced Technology Research Laboratory.”

In March, it was reported by South China Morning Post that ByteDance invested in a Chinese memory company Innostar, becoming its third-largest shareholder. Innostar focuses on the R&D of new memory technologies like ReRAM and related chip products covering three categories: high-performance industrial control/automotive-grade SoC/ASIC chip, computing-in-memory (CIM) IP, chip and system-on-memory (SoM) chip.

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(Photo credit: Samsung)

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, the weak demand is putting more and more pressure on sellers, causing spot prices of modules and chips continue to record a sharper fall than the week before. Meanwhile, regarding NAND Flash prices, the spot market continued to drop this week, while suppliers are thus hoping that the traditional peak season (3Q24) would generate additional demand. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

Trading activities have further slowed down in the spot market compared with last week. Since it is now near the end of May, the weak demand situation is putting more and more pressure on sellers, and spot prices of modules and chips continue to fall. The average spot price of mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) has dropped by 0.42% from US$1.917 last week to US$1.909 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

The spot market is seeing activities of truncation due to suppliers’ pressure in funds yielded by their excessive inventory, and the chaotic negotiation of prices has been widened in scale, though inquiries on market prices and transactions are maintained on the lesser end under lethargic demand. Suppliers are thus hoping that the traditional peak season (3Q24) would generate additional demand, and prompt the market to get rid of further inventory. Spot prices, as a result, continued to drop this week. 512Gb TLC wafers have dropped by 2.79% in spot prices this week, arriving at US$3.479.

According to TrendForce’s latest memory spot price trend report, sellers, in particular Samsung, have increased the chip supply, therefore pushing DRAM prices downward, while DDR4 products suffer from higher inventory. Regarding NAND Flash prices, the retail market is less willing in replenish orders, together with how wafer prices have been surging from the bottom, the depletion of spot prices could carry on. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Price:

The spot market has yet to show a demand turnaround; and sellers, in particular Samsung, have increased the chip supply, thereby pushing prices back down again. Looking at different types of DRAM products, module houses and channels have relatively high inventory levels for DDR4 products. Hence, the downward pressure on spot prices of DDR4 products is greater compared with spot prices of DDR5 products. Overall, even though contract prices have again registered significant increases in 2Q24, this rally has no positive effect on spot prices. Instead, spot transactions continue to show declining quantity, and the downward price pressure has become more pronounced. The average spot price of mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) has dropped by 1.19% from US$1.940 last week to US$1.917 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Price:

The Chinese government’s cracking down on smuggling of memory products, as well as the persistently sluggish demand from the retail market, have prompted module houses to amplify their sales intensity to actively pursue transactions, which led to a loosening in prices. Without replenishment of orders within the retail market, together with how wafer prices have surged from rock bottom to nearly 80% by now, the depletion of spot prices could carry on in the near future. Spot price for 512Gb TLC wafers has dropped by 2.61% this week, arriving at US$3.579.

As AI-related semiconductors has been driving the demand of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), the NAND flash market now also feels the vibe. According to industry sources cited by Business Korea, the NAND Flash market competition is intensifying, while memory giants Samsung and SK Hynix are ramping up their efforts to improve the performance and capacity of NAND products.

In April, Samsung confirmed that it has begun mass production for its one-terabit (Tb) triple-level cell (TLC) 9th-generation vertical NAND (V-NAND), boasted to improve the bit density by about 50% compared to the 8th-generation V-NAND, with the number of layers reaching 290, according an earlier report by The Korea Economic Daily.

Based on the report on May 20 by Business Korea, Samsung intends to dominate the AI SSD market with its 9th Generation V-NAND, targeting the development and sampling of ultra-high capacity 64 terabyte (TB) SSDs in the second quarter.

In mid-May, Samsung even revealed the target to release advanced NAND Flash with over 1000 layers by 2030. According to an earlier report by Wccftech, the South Korean memory giant plans to apply new ferroelectric materials on the manufacturing of NAND.

On the other hand, the current HBM3 supply for NVIDIA’s H100 solution is primarily met by SK Hynix, leading to a supply shortfall in meeting burgeoning AI market demands. After establishing its leadership in HBM, it is reported that SK Hynix now aims to dominate the AI memory market in NAND as well, according to Business Korea.

It is worth noting that SK Hynix recently achieved a breakthrough with the development of “Zoned UFS 4.0” (ZUFS 4.0), an on-device AI mobile NAND solution tailored for AI-capable smartphones, which is scheduled to start mass production in the third quarter, according to TheElec.

(Photo credit: Samsung)

Kioxia, one of the world’s major NAND manufacturer, anticipates a strong market outlook, emphasizing a full recovery this season in key NAND applications such as PCs and smartphones.

According to a report from the Economic Daily News, coupled with an expected surge in demand for new laptops and smartphones driven by AI, NAND chip prices, which increased by 20% last season, are likely to continue rising this season, marking the fourth consecutive price hike. The industry’s future appears quite promising.

Benefiting from the recovering NAND market, Kioxia reported its first revenue growth in seven quarters and profitability for the first time in six quarters. During an investor conference, Kioxia noted that NAND chip prices in US dollar rose by approximately 20% last season, continuing an upward trend for three consecutive quarters, with the company’s quarterly shipment volume increasing by about 5% to 9%.

Kioxia emphasized that this season sees a recovery trend in key NAND end applications such as PCs and smartphones. Additionally, a new wave of laptop and smartphone upgrades driven by AI is expected, along with data centers requiring higher-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) to support AI applications. All these factors positively impact the NAND industry.

Kioxia is reportedly optimistic that the proliferation of AI and the increase in memory capacity will continue to drive long-term growth in the NAND market. Due to disciplined production output by NAND chip manufacturers, the price increase trend is expected to continue this season, making the industry’s future prospects quite optimistic.

Taiwanese NAND manufacturer ADATA believes that although upstream NAND suppliers are gradually returning to profitability and steadily increasing capacity utilization rates, their approach to pricing and capacity planning remains rational. Coupled with a noticeable recovery in demand for enterprise and data center SSDs, ADATA is reportedly optimistic that NAND chip prices will continue to rise in a stable manner, per the same report from Economic Daily News.

As per a research from TrendForce on March 6, in 4Q23, Samsung still firmly held the top position in the NAND Flash market, with its market share increasing from 31.4% in the previous quarter to 36.6%; SK Group, with its market share increasing from 20.2% in the previous quarter to 21.6%, stood in the second place quarterly revenue.

Following them were Western Digital, whose market share decreased from 16.9% in the previous quarter to 14.5%, Kioxia, whose market share decreased from 14.5% in the previous quarter to 12.6%, and Micron, whose market share decreased from 12.5% in the previous quarter to 9.9%.

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(Photo credit: Kioxia)