The world’s top three memory chip makers will debut more power-efficient chips. These Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) chips will have higher capacity and be more powerful to facilitate high-performance computing for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
The AI boom has triggered tough competition among the top silicon chip-makers as LPDDR (Low Power Double Data Rate 5X) chips have become the latest battleground for Micron, Samsung, and SK, according to unnamed sources quoted by the Korean Herald.
The LPDDR is the seventh generation of semiconductors that the companies are focusing on. The new silicon is designed to be used in mobile phones along with other gadgetory and also in the automotive industry.
Samsung’s LPDDR5X chip is as thin as a fingernail
“LPDDR is a versatile product that can be used in various sectors, from mobile devices to servers to automotive solutions. It has a lot of growth potential,” said a source whose identity isn’t disclosed in the report.
Samsung announced last week that it has started the mass production of the LPDDR5X chip, which has been tested for better thermal control in mobile devices. Samsung is the world’s largest memory chip-maker and it claims its chip is the world’s thinnest.
Bae Yong-cheol, Samsung’s executive vice president of memory product for memory product planning, said the company’s LPDDR5X DRAM is designed with “advanced thermal management in an ultracompact package.”
Samsung’s LPDDR5X chip can be compared to a fingernail as it is 0.65 millimeters in thickness. According to the mobile phone giant, the chip is made by a technique called epoxy molding compound and optimized printed circuit boards.
Chip makers SK Hynix and Micron are also in the race
While Samsung has reduced its four-stack DRAM chip size by 9% and improved its heat resistance by 12.2%, according to the company, SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest chip maker, has been focusing on other aspects.
SK Hynix has worked on speed in its upgraded version of the LPDDR5X chip called LPDDR5T. The company increased the processing speed of its new chip by 13% compared to its predecessor. The chip-maker claimed its turbo model LPDDR5T features a transfer rate of 9.6 gigabits per second, which is equal to almost 15 Full HD movies in one second.
SK Hynix has been supplying its customers with silicon products, especially DRAM chips, since last November. Vivo, a Chinese smartphone maker, is one of its key buyers, and it uses these chips in its top-of-the-line smartphones.
Micron Technology ranks third in the global DRAM chip manufacturing market. The US-based firm was the first to develop the advanced LPDDR5X chip in November 2021, which helped it secure good market share, according to the report.
Apple has used Micron’s chips in its flagship product, iPhone 15. The semiconductor manufacturer is also supplying its LPDDR5X for Nvidia’s next-generation accelerators known as the Blackwell series, according to some reports.
