Semiconductor testing equipment maker Exicon is expanding its supply of DDR5 DRAM testing kit to Samsung Electronics, TheElec has learned.
Exicon has supplying its DDR5 DRAM testing kit, the i1520, since late last year.
Its latest kit, to be supplied to Samsung, can test DDR3, DDR4 and DDR5 for PC as well as mobile LPDDR DRAM.
It will support 1.5Gbps and 2.4Gbps speeds. It can test 16 semiconductor chips (16para) simultaneously. It will support testing temperatures between 10~100℃.
The supply to Samsung is boosting Exicon’s sales. The company’s i1520 contributed 6.87 billion won in sales in the first half of 2020, accounting for 61.5% of its total sales during the time period.
Back in June, Exicon said it has supplied 9.2 billion won worth of testing kit to Samsung. The supply includes not just the i1520 but also SSD testing kit SST24Ki.
DDR5 DRAM are expected to rolled out in mass starting in 2022.
Exicon will likely see demand for its testing kit increase in 2021 prior to this expansion.
Market research firm Omdia expects DDR5 demand to start in 2021 __ they will account for 10% of the DRAM market in 2022 and 43% by 2024.
A Exicon spokesperson said it expected DDR5 memory product lineup to be expanded sometime between the second half of 2021 and 2022.
The company was also expected to supply the i1520 to the Chinese market at a later date, they said.
The DDR5 standard was announced by JEDEC in July 14 of this year. DDR5 boasts double the speed of DDR4.
Intel said previously that it expects to launch a CPU that uses DDR5 DRAM sometime in the second half of 2021. Samsung has said it was collaborating with Intel to prepare for mass production of DDR5.
While Exicon supplies to Samsung, competitor UniTest supplies DRAM testing kit to SK Hynix, South Korea’s second largest memory maker.