DDR5: Twice as fast, with a 13% energy saving – and ready to power supercomputing and AI

In an industry first, Samsung more than doubles the speed of computer memory while cutting power consumption – meeting the needs of cutting-edge computing. Computing power is growing rapidly - because it has to: global data volumes are increasing at exponential rates fed by all things digital, from the mobile devices in our hands to the connected machines in factories. During 2020, every person was thought to generate around 1.7 megabytes of data – per second. By 2025, experts predict, our world will generate 175 zettabytes (175 trillion gigabytes) of new data a year. This data is the fuel powering the cutting edge of high-performance computing like data analytics, supercomputing, machine learning and artificial intelligence. To cope, computers need not only super-fast microprocessors, but also memory solutions that can process these data volumes rapidly, efficiently and sustainably. Samsung innovation is now helping to meet this demand, by applying technology that until now could be found only in logic semiconductors in the development of DRAM (dynamic random access memory) to optimize its performance.

Making the leap to DDR5 The result is a new generation of memory chips – DDR5 – that more than doubles the performance of the previous generation (DDR4), shifting data at speeds of up to 7,200 megabits per second – helping today’s ultra-fast processors to think even faster. Computer memory is made up of cells, each capable of storing an electrical charge. If the cell is charged, computer software interprets this as the binary state “1”. If the cell doesn’t hold a charge, computer software interprets this as the binary state of “0”. In this way, RAM uses electrical charges to store and process the millions of 1s and 0s that make up computer code. In recent years, however, makers of computer memory chips have been bumping up against the limits of physics: for memory to function, the cells need to be insulated from one another – otherwise a charge can leak across cells, corrupting the data held in the RAM and preventing the programs that need this data from running. To overcome these limits and make the next generation of DRAM chips not only perform better but achieve a significant performance leap, Samsung – in an industry first - successfully transferred the so-called High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology known from logic chips to the densely packed memory chips. This improves the insulation between the tightly packed cells and makes it possible to move data at more than double the speed of DDR4. The introduction of HKMG technology was possible thanks to Samsung’s industry and technology leadership. However, it was also a direct result of our close cooperation with customers, who told us that they needed memory solutions that are both faster and more efficient.

A powerboost with in-built sustainability That’s why we worked hard to achieve both the desired performance gain and deliver significant energy savings. DDR5 memory uses 13% less energy than the previous generation, and that is especially important as the global data center market is growing at a rate of 6.4% a year. Already, data centers consume around 1% of global energy production, and this figure was set to grow by a factor of 40 over the next 10 years – unless the sector makes big changes. For the operators of data centers and other users of high-performance computing, the need has been clear: they urgently have to have technologies that give them more processing power, but with a reduced environmental footprint at the same time. That’s exactly what Samsung’s new DDR5 module with its HKMG process technology is designed to deliver. Samsung’s DDR5 memory gives power users the high-capacity, energy-efficient memory modules they need to hit the best possible balance between performance and efficiency.

A 512GB memory boost for data-intensive workloads Samsung’s DDR5 memory uses through-silicon via (TSV) technology to stack eight layers of 16 GB DRAM chips, which makes it possible to offer DDR5 memory with capacities of up to 512GB. Thanks to the innovation of our researchers and engineers across these core technologies underpinning memory chips, Samsung’s partners can now integrate our DDR5 memory product family into their products for the leading-edge computing, from machine learning and artificial intelligence to analytics, exascale computing and other emerging data-intensive workloads.

“The industry really needed a game changer, and only Samsung had both the logic chip and memory capabilities to incorporate HKMG technology into the development of memory products,” says Young-Soo Sohn, Vice President of the DRAM Memory Planning/Enabling Group at Samsung Electronics. “With our DDR5 memory modules we give the industry one of the best tools yet to rapidly scale performance while also reducing power consumption. With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the digital transformation of business and society by up to seven years, that’s something that’s not only welcome, but extremely vital for the future of our digital world.”