SK Hynix prepares to launch DDR5 memory

SK Hynix prepares to launch DDR5 memory

SK Hynix has announced plans to begin mass production of DDR5 memory in the coming months. The products are likely to come to market alongside Intel's Alder Lake platform, which is expected to launch later this year. Additionally, the company will kick off the production of 176-layer 3D / 4D NAND flash memory in the second half of the year.

Just like other DRAM manufacturers, SK Hynix showcased its first DDR5 chips and modules in 2019. However, mass production starting in the second half of the year will generate chips that are significantly different from engineering samples. As things stand, SK Hynix has already provided samples of its DDR5 ICs and it is assumed that interested customers are currently working on validation for upcoming platforms and CPUs. These chips will be mass-produced in the second half of the year to meet demand from PC makers using Intel's Alder Lake processors. In the first half of 2022, DDR5 chips will be used for servers equipped with Intel Sapphire Rapids CPUs.

Credit: SK Hynix SK Hynix said it has started volume production of LPDDR4-4266 using its 1st nm manufacturing technology using Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) lithography earlier this month. The company indicated that the new manufacturing tools increase wafer productivity by 25% (compared to the previous 1znm node), while the LPDDR4 chips consume 20% less energy than similar products of the previous generation.

Starting early next year, SK Hynix 1a will also be used to make DDR5 memory, replacing first generation DDR5, as EUV offers substantial advantages to more complex ICs both in terms of power rather than performance, and perhaps more importantly, in terms of die size. In addition to starting mass production of DDR5 in the second half of the year, SK Hynix will also begin mass production of its 176-layer 4D NAND in the coming months.

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