SK Hynix launches 2nd Gen DDR5 DRAM

SK Hynix has launched its second generation 10-nanometer (nm) DDR5 DRAM, the company said.

DDR5 standard was first announced in July by JEDEC.

The company’s DDR5 DRAM supports data transfer rate of 4,800 ~ 5,600 Megabit-per-second (Mbps), which is 1.8 times faster than the previous generation DDR4.

Operating voltage has also been lowered to 1.1V from 1.2V. Power consumption is reduced by 20%, the South Korean chip maker said.

The DDR5 has Error Correcting Code (ECC) inside that can correct 1-bit-level errors by itself. With the ECC, the reliability of applications will be increased by 20 times, SK Hynix said.

The chip can also have up to 256 Gigabyte (GB) capacity applying through-silicon-via (TSV) technology.

SK Hynix has already supplied samples to partners including Intel, it said.

DDR5 DRAM will power server CPU starting next year, the company said.

“Intel partnered closely with memory leaders including SK Hynix on the DDR5 spec development starting with early architecture concepts through JEDEC standardization,” said Carolyn Duran, vice president of Intel’s Data Platforms Group and general manager of Memory and IO Technologies. “In addition, we worked collaboratively with SK Hynix on silicon development by designing and testing prototypes to ensure DDR5 meets its performance goals and are fully ready for our mutual customers.”  

According to Omdia, Demand for DDR5 will start in 2021 and account for 10% of DRAM in 2022. This will expand to 43% in 2024.