Samsung Starts Production on Next-Gen 16Gb GDDR6 DRAM Chips for Graphics Cards

South Korean giant Samsung Electronics on Thursday announced that it had initiated mass production of its first 16Gb (gigabit) Graphics Double Data Rate 6 (GDDR6) DRAM chip for upcoming graphics processors. The GDDR6 chip will use Samsung's new 10nm technology. The new chip also uses a proprietary low-power circuit design that is claimed to consume approximately 35 percent less energy than other GDDR6 chips in the market. Additionally, Samsung has doubled data transfer over its previous 8Gb GDDR5 chip.

As we mentioned, Samsung has begun production for its latest innovation in graphics DRAM chips. Succeeding the earlier 20nm technology is the latest 10nm class used in the new chip. It has a claimed pin speed of 18Gbps and data transfer speed of 72GBps. Additionally, it operates at 1.35V energy consumption using Samsung's low-power circuit design. Apart from a low energy advantage, Samsung also claims a 30 percent manufacturing productivity gain over the previous 20nm 8Gb GDDR5 chip.

These new chips will be adopted by major players involved in the production of next-generation graphics cards and gaming devices, with applications also in automotive, network, and AI systems. It will be compatible to work with complex technologies such as 8k video processing, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI), Samsung said.

"Beginning with this early production of the industry's first 16Gb GDDR6, we will offer a comprehensive graphics DRAM line-up, with the highest performance and densities, in a very timely manner. By introducing next-generation GDDR6 products, we will strengthen our presence in the gaming and graphics card markets and accommodate the growing need for advanced graphics memory in automotive and network systems." said Jinman Han, Senior Vice President, Memory Product Planning & Application Engineering at Samsung Electronics.