Samsung Begins Mass Production Of Industry’s First 8Gb GDDR5 Graphics DRAM

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world-leading producer of advanced memory technology devices, is announcing that it has begun mass production of the industry’s first 8 gigabit (8Gb) GDDR5 DRAM that is based on their leading-edge 20nm process technology. GDDR5 is currently the world’s most widely-used discrete graphics memory.

Discrete graphics DRAM provides a wide amount of bandwidth for processing high-quality graphically-oriented data streams, and is designed for use in graphics cards for PCs and supercomputing usage scenarios, as well as for on-board graphics memory for notebook PCs and gaming consoles. 3-D games are rising in popularity, and UHD (ultra-high definition) video content is steadily becoming more widespread, driving the need for high-performance and high-bandwidth graphics memory.

Samsung’s newest GDDR5 DRAM provides outstanding bandwidth – combining only eight of the 8Gb 20nm chips achieves the same density as the 8GB required for the latest generation of gaming consoles. Samsung’s GDDR5 memory operates at an I/O rate of 8 gigabits per second (gbps) per pin – more than four times faster than the DDR3 memory that is prevalent in today’s notebook PCs, with each chip able to process data at a 32-bit I/O rate. 2GB of this graphics memory can be constructed with only two of the new 8Gb chips, which enables processing of up to 64GB of graphical images per second. This would be the equivalent of processing over 12 full-HD DVDs or movies of 5GB in size in a single second.

According to Joo Sun Choi, Executive Vice President of Memory Sales and Marketing for Samsung Electronics, “We expect that our 8Gb GDDR5 will provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with the best graphics memory solution available for game consoles as well as general use notebook PCs. By expanding our production of 20nm-based DRAM products including the new GDDR5, we will meet increasing global customer demand and take the lead in accelerating the growth of the premium memory market.”

Samsung’s new 20nm GDDR5 completes their family of 8Gb DRAM offerings based on their latest-generation 20nm process technology, which covers PC, mobile, server and graphics memory market segments. Samsung intends to continue expanding production volumes of its 20nm DRAM products, in various densities that include 4Gb, 6Gb and 8Gb (as well as higher densities) to help assure their leadership position in both the high-end IT market and more value-driven markets.