Samsung Electronics announced its financial results for the second quarter today (July 31st), posting KRW 74.07 trillion in consolidated revenue and operating profit of KRW 10.44 trillion (approximately USD 7.5 billion). The memory giant’s strong performance can be contributed to favorable memory market conditions, which drove higher average sales price (ASP), while robust sales of OLED panels also contributed to the results, according to its press release.

In early July, the company estimated a 15-fold increase YoY in second-quarter operating profit, which was expected to jump 1,452 per cent to KRW 10.4 trillion in preliminary numbers for the April-June quarter, the highest since the third quarter of 2022. The actual results are in line with its earlier projection.

Samsung’s DS Division posted KRW 28.56 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 6.45 trillion in operating profit for the second quarter, posting a 23.4% and 2377% QoQ growth, respectively.

Strong Demand for HBM, DDR5 and Server SSDs to Extend in Second Half on AI Applications

Regarding current market conditions, Samsung notes that driven by the strong demand for HBM as well as conventional DRAM and server SSDs, the memory market as a whole continued its recovery. This increased demand is a result of the continued AI investments by cloud service providers and growing demand for AI from businesses for their on-premise servers.

However, Samsung observes that PC demand was relatively weak, while demand for mobile products remained solid on the back of increased orders from Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers. Demand from server applications continued to be robust.

Samsung projects that in the second half of 2024, AI servers are expected to take up a larger portion of the market as major cloud service providers and enterprises expand their AI investments. As AI servers equipped with HBM also feature high content-per-box with regards to conventional DRAM and SSDs, demand is expected to remain strong across the board from HBM and DDR5 to server SSDs.

In response to the heating market demand, Samsung plans to actively expand capacity to increase the portion of HBM3e sales. High-density products will be another major focus, such as server modules based on the 1b-nm 32Gb DDR5 in server DRAM.

Samsung has already taken a big leap on HBM as its HBM3 chips are said to have been cleared by NVIDIA last week, which will initially be used exclusively in the AI giant’s H20, a less advanced GPU tailored for the Chinese market.

For NAND, the company plans to increase sales by strengthening the supply of triple-level cell (TLC) SSDs, which are still a majority portion of AI demand, and will address customer demand for quad-level cell (QLC) products, which are optimized for all applications, including server PC and mobile.

The ramping of HBM and server DRAM production and sales is likely to further constrain conventional bit supply in both DRAM and NAND, Samsung notes.

Read more

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On July 30, 2024, SK hynix announced the launch of next-generation memory product, GDDR7, with the world’s highest performance.

SK hynix explained that GDDR is characterized by the performance specifically designed for graphic processing and high-speed property, which has gaining an increasingly more traction from global AI application customers. In response to this trend, the company completed the development of the latest GDDR7 specifications in March this year, which was now officially launched and will achieve mass production in the third quarter of this year.

SK hynix’s GDDR7 features an operating speed of up to 32Gbps (32 gigabytes per second), which represents an increase of more than 60% compared to the previous generation, and can stand at 40Gbps depending on the usage environment. Built on the latest graphics card, it can support data processing speed of over 1.5TB per second, equivalent to processing 300 FHD (5GB) movies in one second.

In addition to providing faster speeds, GDDR7 boasts an energy efficiency 50% higher than the previous generation. To address chip heating issue caused by ultra-high-speed data processing, SK hynix adopted new packaging technology in the development of this product.

SK hynix’s technical team maintained the product size while increasing the heat-dissipating layers in the packaging substrate from four to six and used highly thermally conductive epoxy molding compound (EMC) in the packaging materials. As a result, the technical team successfully reduced the thermal resistance of the product by 74% compared to the previous generation.

Lee Sang-kwon, Vice President of SK hynix DRAM PP&E, said that SK hynix’s GDDR7 has achieved the highest performance of existing memory chips with excellent speed and energy efficiency, and its applications will expand from high-performance 3D graphics to AI, HPC, and autonomous driving.

Through this product, the company will further strengthen its high-end memory product line while developing into the most trustworthy AI memory solution company for customers.

Read more

• [News] GDDR7 Emerging as a New Driver for Memory Industry
• [News] SK hynix to Kick off Mass Production for GDDR7 in Q4 2024

(Photo credit: SK hynix)

As AI applications become more widespread, there is an urgent need to improve energy efficiency. Traditional AI processes are known as power-hungry due to the constant data transferring between logic and memory. However, according to the reports by Tom’s Hardware and Innovation News Network, researchers in the U.S. may have come up with a solution: computational random-access memory (CRAM), which is said to reduce energy consumption by AI by 1,000 times or more.

According to the reports, researchers at the University of Minnesota, after over 20 years of research, have developed a new generation of phase-change memory that can significantly reduce energy consumption in AI applications.

Citing the research, Tom’s Hardware explains that in current AI computing, data is frequently transferred between processing components (logic) and storage (memory). This constant back-and-forth movement of information can consume up to 200 times more energy than the actual computation.

However, with the so-called CRAM, data can be processed entirely within the memory array without having to leave the grid where it is stored. Computations can be performed directly within memory cells, eliminating the slow and energy-intensive data transfers common in traditional architectures.

According to Innovation News Network, machine learning inference accelerators based on CRAM could achieve energy savings of up to 1,000 times, with some applications realizing reductions of 2,500 and 1,700 times compared to conventional methods.

The reports note further that the patented technology is related to Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (MTJs), which are nanostructured devices used in hard drives, sensors, and various microelectronic systems, including Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM).

It is worth noting that among Taiwanese companies, NOR flash memory company Macronix may be the one with the most progress. According to a report by the Economic Daily, Macronix has been collaborating with IBM to develop the phase-change memory technology for over a decade, with AI applications as their main focus. Currently, Macronix is IBM’s sole partner for phase-change memory.

The report notes that the joint development program between Macronix and IBM is organized in three-year phases. At the end of each phase, the two companies decide whether to sign a new agreement based on the situation.

Read more

• [News] MRDIMM/MCRDIMM to be the New Sought-Afters in Memory Field

(Photo credit: npj Unconventional Computing)

South Korean memory giant SK hynix, after announcing soaring financial results in Q2 and its massive investment in Yongin Semiconductor Cluster last week, is now reportedly considering another move: US IPO for its Solidigm subsidiary.

According to the reports by Blocks & Files and Korea media outlet Hankyung, Solidigm has achieved its first profit after 12 consecutive quarters of losses. On July 25^th, SK hynix announced second-quarter revenue of 16.42 trillion Korean won, a 125% year-on-year increase, setting a historical record. At the same time, profits reached their highest level since 2018. This was mainly due to strong demand for AI memory, including HBM, and overall price increases for DRAM and NAND products.

The reports stated that the rumor regarding the U.S. IPO seems to be plausible, as SK hynix had previously planned to spin off Solidigm, and the company’s recent rebound makes such a move more feasible. In addition, an IPO for Solidigm would allow SK hynix to obtain cash for part of its stake in the company and assist in covering the planned capital expenditures, according to the reports.

The company had just announced an ambitious plan of expanding its memory manufacturing capacity with an approximately 9.4 trillion won (USD 6.8 billion) investment to build an HBM fabrication plant at the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, Korea. Construction of the fab will begin in March 2025 and is expected to be completed by May 2027. Following this, SK Hynix intends to add three more plants to the cluster.

However, the reports also pointed out that SK hynix’s success in this venture will likely depend on how the new organization is structured—such as which assets are included in Solidigm versus those retained by SK hynix—and how both entities address future technology plans. This is particularly important considering that the current roadmap for the memory giant’s NAND business at Dalian, China, including the QLC components that have contributed to Solidigm’s recent success in high-capacity enterprise SSDs, appears to conclude at 196 layers.

In 2020, SK hynix acquired Intel’s NAND and SSD division through a two-phase deal. The first phase involved the former purchasing Intel’s SSD business and NAND fabrication plant in Dalian, China, for USD 7 billion. The second phase will see SK hynix pay Intel an additional USD 2 billion in 2025 for intellectual property related to NAND flash wafer manufacturing and design, as well as for R&D employees and the Dalian fab workforce. SK hynix named the acquired business Solidigm in December, 2021, and has since developed and launched a few successful products, including the D5-P5336 61.44 TB QLC (4 bits/cell) SSD, the reports noted.

Regarding the rumor, SK hynix clarifies that Solidigm is exploring various growth strategies, but no decision has been made at this time.

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• [News] SK hynix Approves USD 6.8 Billion Investment for its First Fab in Yongin, Targeting Next-gen DRAMs
• [News] Battle between Memory Giants Heats up in 2H24 as Samsung and SK hynix Advance in HBM3/ HBM3e

(Photo credit: Solidigm)

Amidst the tide of artificial intelligence (AI), new types of DRAM represented by HBM are embracing a new round of development opportunities. Meanwhile, driven by server demand, MRDIMM/MCRDIMM have emerged as new sought-afters in the memory industry, stepping onto the “historical stage.”

According to a report from WeChat account DRAMeXchange, currently, the rapid development of AI and big data is boosting an increase in the number of CPU cores in servers. To meet the data throughput requirements of each core in multi-core CPUs, it is necessary to significantly increase the bandwidth of memory systems. In this context, HBM modules for servers, MRDIMM/MCRDIMM, have emerged.

• JEDEC Announces Details of the DDR5 MRDIMM Standard

On July 22, JEDEC announced that it will soon release the DDR5 Multiplexed Rank Dual Inline Memory Modules (MRDIMM) and the next-generation LPDDR6 Compression-Attached Memory Module (CAMM) advanced memory module standards, and introduced key details of these two types of memory, aiming to support the development of next-generation HPC and AI. These two new technical specifications were developed by JEDEC’s JC-45 DRAM Module Committee.

As a follow-up to JEDEC’s JESD318 CAMM2 memory module standard, JC-45 is developing the next-generation CAMM module for LPDDR6, with a target maximum speed of over 14.4GT/s. In light of the plan, this module will also provide 24-bit wide subchannels, 48-bit wide channels, and support “connector array” to meet the needs of future HPC and mobile devices.

DDR5 MRDIMM supports multiplexed rank columns, which can combine and transmit multiple data signals on a single channel, effectively increasing bandwidth without additional physical connections. It is reported that JEDEC has planned multiple generations of DDR5 MRDIMM, with the ultimate goal of increasing its bandwidth to 12.8Gbps, doubling the current 6.4Gbps of DDR5 RDIMM memory and improving pin speed.

In JEDEC’s vision, DDR5 MRDIMM will utilize the same pins, SPD, PMIC, and other designs as existing DDR5 DIMMs, be compatible with the RDIMM platform, and leverage the existing LRDIMM ecosystem for design and testing.

JEDEC stated that these two new technical specifications are expected to bring a new round of technological innovation to the memory market.

• Micron’s MRDIMM DDR5 to Start Mass Shipment in 2H24

In March 2023, AMD announced at the Memcom 2023 event that it is collaborating with JEDEC to develop a new DDR5 MRDIMM standard memory, targeting a transfer rate of up to 17600 MT/s. According to a report from Tom’s Hardware at that time, the first generation of DDR5 MRDIMM aims for a rate of 8800 MT/s, which will gradually increase, with the second generation set to reach 12800 MT/s, and the third generation to 17600 MT/s.

MRDIMM, short for “Multiplexed Rank DIMM,” integrates two DDR5 DIMMs into one, thereby providing double the data transfer rate while allowing access to two ranks.

On July 16, memory giant Micron announced the launch of the new MRDIMM DDR5, which is currently sampling and will provide ultra-large capacity, ultra-high bandwidth, and ultra-low latency for AI and HPC applications. Mass shipment is set to begin in the second half of 2024.

MRDIMM offers the highest bandwidth, largest capacity, lowest latency, and better performance per watt. Micron said that it outperforms current TSV RDIMM in accelerating memory-intensive virtualization multi-tenant, HPC, and AI data center workloads.

Compared to traditional RDIMM DDR5, MRDIMM DDR5 can achieve an effective memory bandwidth increase of up to 39%, a bus efficiency improvement of over 15%, and a latency reduction of up to 40%.

MRDIMM supports capacity options ranging from 32GB to 256GB, covering both standard and high-form-factor (TFF) specifications, suitable for high-performance 1U and 2U servers. The 256GB TFF MRDIMM outruns TSV RDIMM with similar capacity by 35% in performance.

This new memory product is the first generation of Micron’s MRDIMM series and will be compatible with Intel Xeon processors. Micron stated that subsequent generations of MRDIMM products will continue to offer 45% higher single-channel memory bandwidth compared to their RDIMM counterparts.

• SK hynix to Launch MCRDIMM Products in 2H24

As one of the world’s largest memory manufacturers, SK hynix already introduced a product similar to MRDIMM, called MCRDIMM, even before AMD and JEDEC.

MCRDIMM, short for “Multiplexer Combined Ranks² Dual In-line Memory Module,” is a module product that combines multiple DRAMs on a substrate, operating the module’s two basic information processing units, Rank, simultaneously.

Source: SK hynix

In late 2022, SK hynix partnered with Intel and Renesas to develop the DDR5 MCR DIMM, which became the fastest server DRAM product in the industry at the time. As per Chinese IC design company Montage Technology’s 2023 annual report, MCRDIMM can also be considered the first generation of MRDIMM.

Traditional DRAM modules can only transfer 64 bytes of data to the CPU at a time, while SK hynix’s MCRDIMM module can transfer 128 bytes by running two memory ranks simultaneously. This increase in the amount of data transferred to the CPU each time boosts the data transfer speed to over 8Gbps, doubling that of a single DRAM.

At that time, SK hynix anticipated that the market for MCR DIMM would gradually open up, driven by the demand for increased memory bandwidth in HPC. According to SK hynix’s FY2024 Q2 financial report, the company will launch 32Gb DDR5 DRAM for servers and MCRDIMM products for HPC in 2H24.

• MRDIMM Boasts a Brilliant Future

MCRDIMM/MRDIMM adopts the DDR5 LRDIMM “1+10” architecture, requiring one MRCD chip and ten MDB chips. Conceptually, MCRDIMM/MRDIMM allows parallel access to two ranks within the same DIMM, increasing the capacity and bandwidth of the DIMM module by a large margin.

Compared to RDIMM, MCRDIMM/MRDIMM can offer higher bandwidth while maintaining good compatibility with the existing mature RDIMM ecosystem. Additionally, MCRDIMM/MRDIMM is expected to enable much higher overall server performance and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprises.

MRDIMM and MCRDIMM both fall under the category of DRAM memory modules, which have different application scenarios relative to HBM as they have their own independent market space. As an industry-standard packaged memory, HBM can achieve higher bandwidth and energy efficiency in a given capacity with a smaller size. However, due to high cost, small capacity, and lack of scalability, its application is limited to a few fields. Thus, from an industry perspective, memory module is the mainstream solution for large capacity, cost-effectiveness, and scalable memory.

Montage Technology believes that, based on its high bandwidth and large capacity advantages, MRDIMM is likely to become the preferred main memory solution for future AI and HPC. As per JEDEC’s plan, the future new high-bandwidth memory modules for servers, MRDIMM, will support even higher memory bandwidth, further matching the bandwidth demands of HPC and AI application scenarios.

Read more

• [News] Samsung’s HBM3e Rumored to be Certified by NVIDIA, Boosting DDR5 Price Increases in Q3
• [News] Memory Giants Plan DDR5, HBM Expansion; No Immediate Impact on Taiwanese DDR4 Pricing

(Photo credit: SK hynix)