SK Hynix’s latest 1b nm DDR5 DRAM chip under Intel test run

SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker after Samsung Electronics Co., said on Tuesday it has supplied its latest DDR5 DRAM chips made with its cutting-edge 1b technology to Intel Corp. for compatibility checks.

The South Korean chipmaker said it recently completed the development of its 1b technology, which applies to fifth-generation 10-nanometer DRAM products.

It said Intel has begun the compatibility validation process for its 1b DDR5 server DRAM chips to be used in Intel Xeon Scalable Processors – the US tech giant’s next-generation central processing unit (CPU).

The verification work marks the chip industry’s first compatibility validation process for the DDR5 server DRAMs made with 1b technology, according to SK Hynix.

If successful, SK Hynix plans to begin mass production in the second half – to be the first in the industry to do so.

CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY

The latest DDR5, short for double data rate 5, chips that SK Hynix provided to Intel run at the industry’s fastest speed of 6.4 gigabits per second (Gbps), meaning 10 full-HD quality movies – each with 5 gigabytes (GB) – can be transferred in just a second.

The data processing speed is 33% faster than earlier versions of DDR5 products available in the market. Compared with SK Hynix’s previous DDR5 chips using 1a technology, the newest chip is 14% faster, it said.

The company also used High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology to slash power consumption.

Using HKMG technology for the insulation layer reduces current leakage and improves power efficiency, making such chips especially suitable for energy-consuming data centers.

SK Hynix said it reduced the 1b DDR5 chip’s power consumption by more than 20% compared with 1a DDR5 products.

With higher density, faster speed and lower power consumption than DDR4 chips, DDR5 is suitable for data-intensive supercomputing, artificial intelligence and machine learning applications.

SK Hynix, which became the industry’s first chipmaker to release DDR5 DRAM in October 2020, aims to enhance its presence in the growing market.

NEW CHIP TO BOOST SK’S EARNINGS

“Amid growing expectations that the memory market will start to recover from the second half, we believe our industry-leading DRAM technology will also help us improve our earnings from the second half,” said Kim Jong-hwan, head of DRAM Development at SK.

He said the company plans to use the 1b technology for a broader range of products, including lower power double data rate 5 turbo (LPDDR5T) and high bandwidth memory 3 (HBM3) chips in the first half of 2024.

Dimitrios Ziakas, Intel’s vice president of Memory and IO Technologies, said:

“Intel has been collaborating with the memory industry to ensure compatibility of DDR5 memory on the Intel Xeon Scalable platform. SK Hynix’s 1b nm is the first of its generation being targeted for the next Intel Xeon Scalable platform and the Intel Data Center Certified memory program.”

DRAM market leader Samsung and smaller rival Micron Technology Inc. have also competitively unveiled DDR5 chips to enhance their presence in the growing market.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.