Samsung Electronics, a global provider of advanced semiconductor technology, announced that it has completed development of the industry's first Double Data Rate 7 (GDDR7) Graphics DRAM. It will be installed for the first time on key customers' next-generation systems for verification this year, driving future growth of the graphics market and further consolidating Samsung's technology in the field.
Following Samsung's development of the industry's first 24 Gbps GDDR6 DRAM in 2022, the company's 16 gigabit (Gb) GDDR7 offering will provide the industry's highest speed yet. Innovations in integrated circuit (IC) design and packaging provide greater stability despite high-speed operations.
“Our GDDR7 DRAM will help elevate user experiences in areas that require excellent graphics performance, such as workstations, PCs, and gaming consoles, and is expected to expand into future applications such as AI, high-performance computing (HPC ) and automotive vehicles,” said Yongcheol Bae, executive vice president of the memory product planning team at Samsung Electronics. “Next-generation graphics DRAM will be brought to market based on industry demand, and we plan to continue our industry leadership.”
Samsung's GDDR7 achieves an impressive bandwidth of 1.5 terabytes per second (TBps), which is 1.4 times greater than GDDR6's 1.1 TBps and features a boosted pin speed of up to 32 Gbps. The improvements are possible thanks to the Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM3) signaling method adopted for the new memory standard instead of the Non Return to Zero (NRZ) of previous generations. PAM3 allows 50% more data to be transmitted than NRZ within the same signaling cycle.
Significantly, compared to GDDR6, the latest design is 20% more energy efficient, with energy-saving design technology optimized for high-speed operations. For applications especially concerned about power usage, such as laptops, Samsung offers a low operating voltage option.
To minimize heat generation, an epoxy molding compound (EMC) with high thermal conductivity is used in the packaging material in addition to optimizing the IC architecture. These improvements dramatically reduce thermal resistance by 70% compared to GDDR6, aiding stable product performance even in high-speed operating conditions.
