SK hynix President Justin Kim shared insights on SK hynix’s current memory products and HBM-related offerings in a speech titled “Unleashing the Possibilities of AI Memory Technology.” Per a report from TechNews, he announced at Semicon Taiwan that the company would begin mass production of 12-stack HBM3e by the end of this month, marking a pivotal moment in the HBM battlefield.

He also stated that AI development is only at its first stage, with future growth expected to reach a fifth stage, where AI will interact with humans through intellect and emotion. Kim outlined AI’s key challenges, including power, heat dissipation, and memory bandwidth requirements.

The biggest challenge currently, according to Kim, is power shortages, with data centers expected to need twice the power they do now. Relying solely on renewable energy will not meet this demand, and increased power use will also generate more heat, requiring more efficient heat dissipation solutions.

Thus, SK hynix is working on AI memory that is more energy-efficient, lower in power consumption, and has greater capacity, while also offering solutions tailored to different applications.

Kim then shared the latest progress on HBM3e, noting that SK Hynix was the first supplier to produce 8-layer HBM3e and will begin mass production of 12-layer HBM3e by the end of the month. Additionally, SK Hynix introduced its latest products in DIMM, enterprise SSDs (QLC eSSD), LPDDR5T, LPDDR6, and GDDR7 as well.

Regarding technology development, Kim highlighted that HBM4 will be the first product based on a base die, combining SK hynix’s advanced HBM technology with TSMC’s cutting-edge manufacturing to achieve unparalleled performance. Mass production schedules will be aligned with customer demands.

On a global scale, Kim announced the establishment of a new facility in Yongin, South Korea, with plans to begin mass production in 2027, positioning Yongin as one of the largest and most advanced semiconductor hubs.

Moreover, SK hynix will invest in Indiana, USA, expected to start operations at a new plant in 2028, focusing on advanced HBM packaging.

Eventually, Kim stated that SK hynix will concentrate on AI business, looking to build AI infrastructure with SK Group. This includes integrating power, software, glass substrates, and immersion cooling technology, and working to become a core player in the ecosystem, overcoming challenges with partners to achieve goals in the AI era.

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JEDEC (the Solid State Technology Association) recently confirmed that the long-used SO-DIMM and DIMM memory standards will be replaced by CAMM2 for DDR6 (LPDDR6 included).

According to a report from WeChat account DRAMeXchange, the minimum frequency for DDR6 memory is 8800MHz, which can be increased to 17.6GHz, with a theoretical maximum of up to 21GHz, far surpassing that of DDR4 and DDR5 memory. CAMM2 is a brand new memory standard that also supports DDR6 standard memory, making it suitable for large PC devices like desktop PC. JEDEC expects to complete the preliminary draft of the DDR6 memory standard within this year, with the official version 1.0 expected by 2Q25 at the earliest, and specific products likely coming in 4Q25 or in 2026.

LPDDR6 will adopt a new 24-bit wide channel design, with a maximum memory bandwidth of up to 38.4GB/s, significantly higher than the existing LPDDR5 standard. The maximum rate for LPDDR6 can reach 14.4Gbps and the minimum rate is 10.667Gbps, matching the highest rate of LPDDR5x and far exceeding LPDDR5’s 6.7Gbps.

It is learned that a true CAMM2-standard LPDDR6, with a 32GB specification for example, costs about USD 500, which is five times the price of LPDDR5 (SO-DIMM/DIMM) memory.

Considering market adoption, the industry believes that the new CAMM2 standard adopted by DDR6 requires large-scale replacement of existing production equipment, which will bring about a new cost structure. Meanwhile, the evolution of new standards in the existing market will face high cost issue, which will restrict the large-scale adoption of DDR6 or LPDDR6.

Currently, upstream manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron already have some memory products supporting the CAMM2 standard. Among downstream brand manufacturers, Lenovo and Dell also follow up and Dell reportedly has used CAMM2 memory boards in its enterprise product line in 2023.

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(Photo credit: Samsung)

Currently, the issue of low power consumption remains a key concern in the industry. According to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), given that an average Google search requires 0.3Wh and each request to OpenAI’s ChatGPT consumes 2.9Wh, the 9 billion searches conducted daily would require an additional 10 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually. Based on the projected sales of AI servers, AI industry might see exponential growth in 2026, with power consumption needs at least ten times that of last year.

Ahmad Bahai, CTO of Texas Instruments, per a previous report from Business Korea, stated that recently, in addition to the cloud, AI services have also shifted to mobile and PC devices, leading to a surge in power consumption, and hence, this will be a hot topic.

In response to market demands, the industry is actively developing semiconductors with lower power consumption. On memory products, the development of LPDDR and related products such as Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module (LPCAMM) is accelerating. These products are particularly suitable for achieving energy conservation in mobile devices with limited battery capacity. Additionally, the expansion of AI applications in server and automotive fields is driving the increased use of LPDDR to reduce power consumption.

In terms of major companies, Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix are speeding up the development of the next generation of LPDDR. Recently, Micron announced the launch of Crucial LPCAMM2. Compared to existing modules, this product is 64% smaller and 58% more power-efficient. As a low-power dedicated packaging module that includes several latest LPDDR products (LPDDR5X), it is a type of LPCAMM. LPCAMM was first introduced by Samsung Electronics last year, and it is expected to enjoy significant market growth this year.

Currently, the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) plans to complete the development of LPDDR6 specifications within this year. According to industry news cited by the Korean media BusinessKorea, LPDDR6 is expected to start commercialization next year. The industry predicts that LPDDR6’s bandwidth may more than double that of previous generation.

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(Photo credit: SK Hynix)