Samsung has revealed that it has begun mass producing the “industry"s first" 10 nanometre (nm)-class 8-gigabit DDR4 DRAM chips and modules. The company points out that the term "10nm-class" refers to anything between the size of 10 nanometres and 20 nanometres it"s most likely to be 18 nanometres if a report from Etnews is correct.
Shrinking the size of chips is important because it allows for increased performance and efficiency while using less power. The new DRAM supports a data transfer rate of 3,200Mbps, up from the rate of the 20nm DDR4 DRAM which has a data transfer rate of 2,400Mbps. The new chips consume 10 to 20 percent less power than the 20-nm versions.
Samsung"s major rivals in DRAM chips, SK Hynix and Micron Technology, are lagging behind Samsung. SK Hynix does not plan to commercialise 18nm DRAM chips until early next year, and Micron, last year, said it wants to close the gap between it and Samsung with 16nm chips.
With the new 10nm-class DDR4 DRAM, Samsung is planning to introduce the technology to its mobile devices (it"ll likely make an appearance in next year"s flagship devices), helping it “further solidify its leadership in the ultra-HD smartphone market.” On the PC and server front, Samsung will bring 10nm-class DDR4 modules with capacities ranging from 4GB for notebook PCs, to 128GB for enterprise servers.
Source: Samsung via SamMobile | Image via Hot Digital News
