Samsung Electronics to begin mass producing '12Gb LPDDR5’

Samsung Electronics said on July 18 that at the end of this month, it will begin mass producing its 12Gb Low Power Double Data Rate 5 (LPDDR5) mobile DRAM running on record-high speed and offering the largest capacity ever.

The DRAM package will be loaded with a total of eight second-generation 10nm(1y) 12Gb chips, according to industry sources who interpreted the move as a part of the world’s largest tech company’s strategy to dominate the flagship smartphone memory market.

The announcement came just five months since Samsung began mass producing the 12GB LPRDR4X mobile package in March.

LPDDR5 is a low-energy DRAM standard used in most mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The mobile DRAM also supports application processors. It’s categorized into MDDR, LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, LPDDR4X, LPDDR5 according to speed.

The 12GB LPDDR5 mobile DRAM runs at a speed of 5,500Mb/s, which is about 1.3 times faster than the DRAM (LPDDR4X, 4,266Mb/s) used for high-end smartphones. When this chip is realized in a 12GB package, it can process up to 44GB of data – which amounts to about 12 HD movies – in a single second.

Samsung also deployed clocking, training and ow power features to enable low-energy operations in high-speed mode. Compared to existing products, power consumption was cut by 30%, enabling high-definition video shoots on 5G flagship smartphones, along with AI and ML, on longer battery time.

“By establishing a steady supply system for the next generation LPDDR5 DRAM based on our main-stream second generation 10nm(1y) chip, we’ll be able to help our global clients produce their flagship handsets on schedule,” said Lee Jung-bae, vice president of Samsung Electronics’ DRAM development division. “In the future, we’ll be introducing a lineup of higher speeds and larger capacities to spur the growth of the premium memory market.”

Samsung is planning to soon launch a more effective 16GB LPDDR5 DRAM to target the high-end mobile market as well. For now, the firm is considering setting up a proper mass production system at its Pyeongtaek Campus for the next generation LPDDR5 mobile DRAM.

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