Samsung announced the completion of the industry's first Graphics Double Data Rate 7 (GDDR7) DRAM development. This groundbreaking achievement will see the GDDR7 DRAM being initially installed in next-generation systems of key customers for verification this year.
The introduction of GDDR7 is set to drive future growth in the graphics market and solidify Samsung's position as a technological leader in the field.
Building on the success of Samsung's development of the industry's first 24 Gbps GDDR6 DRAM in 2022, the new 16-gigabit (Gb) GDDR7 offering delivers the highest speed in the industry to date. Leveraging innovations in integrated circuit (IC) design and packaging, the GDDR7 DRAM provides enhanced stability even during high-speed operations.
Yongcheol Bae, Executive Vice President of the Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics, highlighted the impact of the GDDR7 DRAM on user experiences in graphics-intensive areas such as workstations, PCs, and game consoles. Additionally, Bae emphasized the potential expansion of GDDR7 into future applications such as AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and automotive vehicles. Samsung aims to bring the next-generation graphics DRAM to market in response to industry demand, maintaining its leadership position in the space.
Samsung's GDDR7 achieves an impressive bandwidth of 1.5 terabytes-per-second (TBps), surpassing the performance of GDDR6's 1.1TBps. The memory standard also features a boosted speed per pin of up to 32 Gbps. These enhancements are made possible by adopting the Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM3) signaling method, which allows for the transmission of 50% more data within the same signaling cycle compared to the previous Non Return to Zero (NRZ) method.
Notably, the latest GDDR7 design offers a 20% increase in energy efficiency compared to GDDR6, thanks to power-saving design technology optimized for high-speed operations. For power-conscious applications like laptops, Samsung provides a low-operating voltage option. To mitigate heat generation, the packaging material utilizes an epoxy molding compound (EMC) with high thermal conductivity, coupled with IC architecture optimization. These improvements result in a remarkable 70% reduction in thermal resistance compared to GDDR6, ensuring stable product performance even during high-speed operations.
