Back in February, Samsung started mass producing very fast 10nm 16GB modules of LPDDR5 mobile DRAM chips. This week, those chips now look slow thanks to Samsung's move to a third-generation production line using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology.
Samsung announced that it's now mass producing the memory industry's first 16Gb LPDDR5 mobile DRAM modules using EUV on the world's largest semiconductor line. The modules are being manufactured on a second production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea. Line 2 spans an area the size of 16 soccer fields (over 1.3 million square feet) and uses Samsung's most advanced (1z) process node to produce the 10nm chips.
Samsung already offered the fastest 16GB memory modules for phones, which when introduced in February boasted 5,500MB/s data transfer speeds. However, the third-generation chips boast a 16 percent performance gain and run at 6,400Mb/s. Samsung says that's fast enough to transfer over 50GB of data in a second. Not only that, but the 1z process means the LPDDR5 chip package is 30 percent thinner, giving smartphone and tablet manufacturers a bit more space to play with inside their already very cramped devices.
With such a huge production line already churning out these new chips, Samsung is confident they will appear in many flagship mobile devices next year. However, such is the scale of production, Samsung is also targeting the automotive industry and intends to produce LPDDR5 chips that meet strict operating temperature and reliability standards required for their use in vehicles.
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