SK Hynix, leader in HBM3E memory, has now shared more details about HBM4E. Based on fresh reports by Wccftech and ET News, SK Hynix plans to make an HBM memory type that features multiple things like computing, caching, and network memory, all within the same package. This will make SK Hynix stand out from others. This idea is still in the early stages, but SK Hynix has started getting the design information it needs to support its goals. The reports say that SK Hynix wants to lay the groundwork for a versatile HBM with its upcoming HBM4 design. The company reportedly plans to include a memory controller on board, which will allow new computing abilities with its 7th generation HBM4E memory.

By using SK Hynix's method, everything will be unified as a single unit. This will not only make data transfer faster because there is less space between parts, but it will also make it more energy-efficient. Previously in April, SK Hynix announced that it has been working with TSMC to produce the next generation of HBM and improve how logic chips and HBM work together through advanced packaging. In late May, SK Hynix has disclosed yield details regarding HBM3E for the first time, the memory giant reporting successfully reducing the time needed for mass production of HBM3E chips by 50%, while getting closer to the target yield of 80%. The company plans to keep developing HBM4, which is expected to start mass production in 2026.

Micron Technology, a leader in innovative data center solutions, today announced it has achieved its qualification sample milestone for the Micron CZ120 memory expansion modules using Compute Express Link (CXL). Micron is the first in the industry to achieve this milestone, which accelerates the adoption of CXL solutions within the data center to tackle the growing memory challenges stemming from existing data-intensive workloads and emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) workloads.

Using a new and emerging CXL standard, the CZ120 required substantial hardware testing for reliability, quality and performance across CPU providers and OEMs, along with comprehensive software testing for compatibility and compliance with OS and hypervisor vendors. This achievement reflects the collaboration and commitment across the data center ecosystem to validate the advantages of CXL memory. By testing the combined products for interoperability and compatibility across hardware and software, the Micron CZ120 memory expansion modules satisfy the rigorous standards for reliability, quality and performance required by customers' data centers.

Beijing has doubled down on its push for semiconductor self-sufficiency with the establishment of a new $47.5 billion investment fund to accelerate growth in the domestic chip sector. The fund, officially registered on May 24th under the name "China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Phase III", represents the largest of three state-backed vehicles aimed at cultivating China's semiconductor capabilities. The announcement comes as tensions over advanced chip technology continue to escalate between the U.S. and China. Over the past couple years, Washington has steadily ratcheted up export controls on semiconductors to Beijing over national security concerns about potential military applications. These measures have lent new urgency to China's quest for self-sufficiency in chip design and manufacturing.

With a war chest of 344 billion yuan ($47.5 billion), the "Big Fund" dwarfs the combined capital of the first two semiconductor investment vehicles launched in 2014 and 2019. Officials have outlined a multipronged strategy targeting key bottlenecks, focusing on equipment for chip fabrication plants. The fund has bankrolled major projects such as flash memory maker Yangtze Memory Technologies and leading foundries like SMIC and Huahong. China's homegrown chip industry still needs to catch up to global leaders like Intel, Samsung, and TSMC. However, the immense scale of state-directed capital illustrates Beijing's unwavering commitment to developing a self-reliant supply chain for semiconductors—a technology viewed as indispensable for economic and military competitiveness. News of the "Big Fund" sent Chinese chip stocks surging over 3% on hopes of fresh financing tailwinds.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading brand of performance overclock memory and PC components, is excited to announce the highly anticipated Trident Z5 Royal series of high-performance overclock DDR5 memory. Featuring a mirrored-finish heat spreader in gold or silver color and a full-length crystalline light bar, the Trident Z5 Royal is the embodiment of high-class luxury of the flagship Trident Z5 product family.

Trident Z5 Royal marks the return of the popular luxury-class design to the new generation of DDR5 memory under the Trident Z5 design, inheriting from its DDR4 predecessor the lustrous mirrored-finish heat spreader in gold or silver color and a crystalline light bar design for a magnificent display of RGB lighting. Each heat spreader is CNC-cut from aluminium and electroplated for a stunning design befitting its Royal name.

Yesterday we reported on DDR6 memory hitting new heights of performance and it looks like LPDDR6 will follow suit, at least based on details in a JEDEC presentation. LPDDR6 will just like LPDDR5 be available as solder down memory, but it will also be available in a new LPCAMM2 module. The bus speed of LPDDR5 on LPCAMM2 modules is expected to peak at 9.2 GT/s based on JEDEC specifications, but LPDDR6 will extend this to 14.4 GT/s or roughly a 50 percent increase. However, today the fastest and only LPCAMM2 modules on the retail market which are using LPDDR5X, comes in at 7.5 GT/s, which suggests that launch speeds of LPDDR6 will end up being quite far from the peak speeds.

There will be some other interesting changes to LPDDR6 CAMM2 modules as there will be a move from 128-bit per module to 192-bit per module and each channel will go from 32-bits to 48-bits. Part of the reason for this is that LPDDR6 is moving to a 24-bit channel width, consisting of two 12-bit sub channels, as mentioned in yesterday's news post. This might seem odd at first, but in reality is fairly simple, LPDDR6 will have native ECC (Error Correction Code) or EDC (Error Detection Code) support, but it's currently not entirely clear how this will be implemented on a system level. JEDEC is also looking at developing a screwless solution for the CAMM2 and LPCAMM2 memory modules, but at the moment there's no clear solution in sight. We might also get to see LPDDR6 via LPCAMM2 modules on the desktop, although the presentation only mentions CAMM2 for the desktop, something we've already seen that MSI is working on.

G.Skill is giving finishing touches to its new line of flagship overclocking PC DDR5 memory series, the Trident Z5 Royal. The series first broke cover in Computex 2023, but the company never got around to launching actual products. It's last Royal-branded memory series that made it to mass-production was the Trident Z Royal Elite DDR4 series from 2021. The company was probably dragging its feet with the Trident Z5 Royal series because by mid-2023, memory speeds in excess of 8000 MT/s weren't as popular as they are today, among the enthusiast crowd. The G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal series memory module comes in two trims, gold and silver. Both have the same geometric design, and are crowned by an acrylic lighting diffuser that resembles a cluster of gemstones. The series will probably consist of memory kits that are both high-capacity (48 GB, 64 GB, 96 GB); and high speed (DDR5-8000 and upward). The company will probably launch these next month. We'll be sure to swing by the G.Skill booth to show you more.The company's teaser video follows.

BIWIN is a rather large OEM of consumer NAND flash and DRAM products for some of the largest PC brands, including HP and Acer, among several others. It is based out of Shenzhen, China, and trades as 688525 on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company has been making retail overclocking PC memory; high performance M.2 NVMe and SATA SSDs; as well as portable SSDs and USB flash drives for several years now. We've reviewed several of these including. BIWIN now wants to break cover, and sell these products under its own brand in the retail channel. BIWIN is planning to make a big splash at the 2024 Computex next month, where it will showcase not just the products it's making for the big PC brands, but also those it plans to directly market under its own marquee.

From what we gather, BIWIN will continue to be an OEM for the big ticket brands it's serving, but will also run a first-party product stack. This would give its product managers freedom to come up with original product designs and specifications for their products, and choose where and how to sell them. The company in its LinkedIn post announcing this move, also posted teasers from its upcoming Computex booth, showcasing BIWIN-branded PC overclocking memory, portable SSDs, USB flash drives, memory cards, and M.2 NVMe SSDs. We'll be sure to give you a detailed tour of this booth from Computex.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading brand of performance overclock memory and PC components, is announcing the release of Ripjaws M5 RGB, a high-performance RGB DDR5 memory series designed for the latest DDR5-enabled Intel platforms. At launch, initial specifications will be offered up to DDR5-6400 CL32-39-39-102 96 GB (2x48GB). Available in matte black or matte white aluminium heatspreaders and features customizable RGB lighting, the Ripjaws M5 RGB is an ideal memory kit for a wide variety of PC builds and themes.

Designed for Stylish Performance
Available in matte white or matte black aluminium heatspreaders and standing at 41 mm tall, the Ripjaws M5 RGB series is designed for a minimalistic look and features customizable RGB lighting to match a wide variety of PC build themes.

Intel has prepared the Core Ultra 5-238V, a Lunar Lake-MX CPU that integrates 32 GB of LPDDR5X memory into the CPU package. This new design represents a significant departure from the traditional approach of using separate memory modules, promising enhanced performance and efficiency, similar to what Apple is doing with its M series of processors. The Core Ultra 5-238V is the first of its kind for Intel to hit mass consumers. Previous attempt was with Lakefield, which didn't take off, but had advanced 3D stacked Foveros packaging. With 32 GB of high-bandwidth, low-power LPDDR5X memory directly integrated into the CPU package, the Core Ultra 5-238V eliminates the need for separate memory modules, reducing latency and improving overall system responsiveness. This seamless integration results in faster data transfer rates and lower power consumption with LPDDR5X memory running at 8533 MT.

Applications that demand intensive memory usage, such as video editing, 3D rendering, and high-end gaming, will be the first to experience performance gains. Users can expect smoother multitasking, quicker load times, and more efficient handling of memory-intensive tasks. The Core Ultra 5-238V is equipped with four big Lion Cove and four little Skymont cores, in combination with seven Xe2-LPG cores based on Battlemage GPU microarchitecture. The bigger siblings to Core Ultra 5, the Core Ultra 7 series, will feature eight Xe2-LPG cores instead of seven, with the same CPU core count, while all of them will run the fourth generation NPU.

Patriot Memory, a renowned name in performance memory and storage solutions, has teamed up with MSI, an innovator in gaming hardware, to unleash the Viper Xtreme 5 RGB DDR5 MPOWER Series - an extreme-speed DDR5 memory kit crafted for gamers, overclockers, and power users. This cutting-edge collaboration between the two brands combines blistering data rates up to 8000MT/s with massive 32 GB (16 GB x2) or 48 GB (24 GB x2) capacities. The Viper Xtreme 5 RGB DDR5 MPOWER series unleashes a torrent of memory bandwidth, turbocharging gaming rigs, content creation workstations, and other high-intensity applications demanding extreme responsiveness and throughput.

Optimized for Maximum Overclocking Potential
Intel XMP 3.0 certified for seamless plug-and-play overclocking on the latest Intel platforms, the Xtreme 5 RGB DDR5 MPOWER kit also integrates with MSI's user-friendly EZ Dashboard utility. This enables granular control over advanced timings and voltages to extract every last drop of performance.

NEO Semiconductor, a leading developer of innovative technologies for 3D NAND flash and DRAM memory, today announced a performance boosting Floating Body Cell Mechanism for 3D X-DRAM. Andy Hsu, Founder & CEO presented groundbreaking Technology CAD (TCAD) simulation results for NEO's 3D X-DRAM during the 16th IEEE International Memory Workshop (IMW) 2024 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Neo Semiconductor reveals a unique performance boosting mechanism called Back-gate Channel-depth Modulation (BCM) for Floating Body Cell that can increase data retention by 40,000X and sensing window by 20X.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the availability of Crucial LPCAMM2, the disruptive next-generation laptop memory form factor that features LPDDR5X mobile memory to level up laptop performance for professionals and creators. Consuming up to 58% less active power and with a 64% space savings compared to DDR5 SODIMMs, LPCAMM2 delivers higher bandwidth and dual-channel support with a single module. LPCAMM2 is an ideal high-performance memory solution for handling AI PC and complex workloads and is compatible with the powerful and versatile Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 mobile workstations.

"LPCAMM2 is a game-changer for mobile workstation users who want to enjoy the benefits of the latest mobile high performance memory technology without sacrificing superior performance, upgradeability, power efficiency or space," said Jonathan Weech, senior director of product marketing for Micron's Commercial Products Group. "With LPCAMM2, we are delivering a future-proof memory solution, enabling faster speeds and longer battery life to support demanding creative and AI workloads."

SK hynix participated in the first-ever Compute Express Link Consortium Developers Conference (CXL DevCon) held in Santa Clara, California from April 30-May 1. Organized by a group of more than 240 global semiconductor companies known as the CXL Consortium, CXL DevCon 2024 welcomed a majority of the consortium's members to showcase their latest technologies and research results.

CXL is a technology that unifies the interfaces of different devices in a system such as semiconductor memory, storage, and logic chips. As it can increase system bandwidth and processing capacity, CXL is receiving attention as a key technology for the AI era in which high performance and capacity are essential. Under the slogan "Memory, The Power of AI," SK hynix showcased a range of CXL products at the conference that are set to strengthen the company's leadership in AI memory technology.

SK hynix held a press conference unveiling its vision and strategy for the AI era today at its headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, to share the details of its investment plans for the M15X fab in Cheongju and the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster in Korea and the advanced packaging facilities in Indiana, U.S.

The event, hosted by theChief Executive Officer Kwak Noh-Jung, three years before the May 2027 completion of the first fab in the Yongin Cluster, was attended by key executives including the Head of AI Infra Justin (Ju-Seon) Kim, Head of DRAM Development Kim Jonghwan, Head of the N-S Committee Ahn Hyun, Head of Manufacturing Technology Kim Yeongsik, Head of Package & Test Choi Woojin, Head of Corporate Strategy & Planning Ryu Byung Hoon, and the Chief Financial Officer Kim Woo Hyun.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), today announced it is leading the industry by validating and shipping its high-capacity monolithic 32Gb DRAM die-based 128 GB DDR5 RDIMM memory in speeds up to 5,600 MT/s on all leading server platforms. Powered by Micron's industry-leading 1β (1-beta) technology, the 128 GB DDR5 RDIMM memory delivers more than 45% improved bit density, up to 22% improved energy efficiency and up to 16% lower latency over competitive 3DS through-silicon via (TSV) products.

Micron's collaboration with industry leaders and customers has yielded broad adoption of these new high-performance, large-capacity modules across high-volume server CPUs. These high-speed memory modules were engineered to meet the performance needs of a wide range of mission-critical applications in data centers, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), high-performance computing (HPC), in-memory databases (IMDBs) and efficient processing for multithreaded, multicore count general compute workloads. Micron's 128 GB DDR5 RDIMM memory will be supported by a robust ecosystem including AMD, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, Supermicro, along with many others.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS), a premier chip and silicon IP provider making data faster and safer, today announced the availability of its new family of state-of-the-art DDR5 server Power Management ICs (PMICs), including an industry-leading extreme current device for high-performance applications. With this new family of server PMICs, Rambus offers module manufacturers a complete DDR5 RDIMM memory interface chipset supporting a broad range of data center use cases.

"Advanced data center workloads like generative AI require the highest bandwidth and capacity server RDIMMs tailored to meet ever-increasing memory needs of a growing data pipeline," said Sean Fan, chief operating officer at Rambus. "With the addition of this new family of server PMICs, we expand our foundational technology and offer customers a comprehensive memory interface chipset that supports multiple DDR5 server platform generations."

According to The Information, in a strategic maneuver to circumvent the constraints imposed by US sanctions, Huawei is accelerating efforts to establish domestic production capabilities for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) within China. This move addresses the limitations that have hampered the company's advancements in AI and high-performance computing (HPC) sectors. HBM technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the performance of AI and HPC processors by mitigating memory bandwidth bottlenecks. Recognizing its significance, Huawei has assembled a consortium comprising memory manufacturers backed by the Chinese government and prominent semiconductor companies like Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit. This consortium is focused on advancing HBM2 memory technology, which is crucial for Huawei's Ascend-series processors for AI applications.

Huawei's initiative comes at a time when the company faces challenges in accessing HBM from external sources, impacting the availability of its AI processors in the market. Despite facing obstacles such as international regulations restricting the sale of advanced chipmaking equipment to China, Huawei's efforts underscore China's broader push for self-sufficiency in critical technologies essential for AI and supercomputing. By investing in domestic HBM production, Huawei aims to secure a stable supply chain for these vital components, reducing reliance on external suppliers. This strategic shift not only demonstrates Huawei's resilience in navigating geopolitical challenges but also highlights China's determination to strengthen its technological independence in the face of external pressures. As the global tech landscape continues to evolve, Huawei's move to develop homegrown HBM memory could have far-reaching implications for China's AI and HPC capabilities, positioning the country as a significant player in the memory field.

SK hynix showcased its next-generation technologies and strengthened key partnerships at the TSMC 2024 Technology Symposium held in Santa Clara, California on April 24. At the event, the company displayed its industry-leading HBM AI memory solutions and highlighted its collaboration with TSMC involving the host's CoWoS advanced packaging technology.

TSMC, a global semiconductor foundry, invites its major partners to this annual conference in the first half of each year so they can share their new products and technologies. Attending the event under the slogan "Memory, the Power of AI," SK hynix received significant attention for presenting the industry's most powerful AI memory solution, HBM3E. The product has recently demonstrated industry-leading performance, achieving input/output (I/O) transfer speed of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) in an AI system during a performance validation evaluation.

Today, we have the latest round of leaks that suggest that AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 graphics cards, codenamed the "RX 8000-series," might continue to rely on GDDR6 memory modules. According to Kepler on X, the next-generation GPUs from AMD are expected to feature 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory, marking the fourth consecutive RDNA architecture to employ this memory standard. While GDDR6 may not offer the same bandwidth capabilities as the newer GDDR7 standard, this decision does not necessarily imply that RDNA 4 GPUs will be slow performers. AMD's choice to stick with GDDR6 is likely driven by factors such as meeting specific memory bandwidth requirements and cost optimization for PCB designs. However, if the rumor of 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory proves accurate, it would represent a slight step back from the 18-20 Gbps GDDR6 memory used in AMD's current RDNA 3 offerings, such as the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX GPUs.

AMD's first generation RDNA used GDDR6 with 12-14 Gbps speeds, RDNA 2 came with GDDR6 at 14-18 Gbps, and the current RDNA 3 used 18-20 Gbps GDDR6. Without an increment in memory generation, speeds should stay the same at 18 Gbps. However, it is crucial to remember that leaks should be treated with skepticism, as AMD's final memory choices for RDNA 4 could change before the official launch. The decision to use GDDR6 versus GDDR7 could have significant implications in the upcoming battle between AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel's next-generation GPU architectures. If AMD indeed opts for GDDR6 while NVIDIA pivots to GDDR7 for its "Blackwell" GPUs, it could create a disparity in memory bandwidth performance between the competing products. All three major GPU manufacturers—AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel with its "Battlemage" architecture—are expected to unveil their next-generation offerings in the fall of this year. As we approach these highly anticipated releases, more concrete details on specifications and performance capabilities will emerge, providing a clearer picture of the competitive landscape.

SK hynix Inc. announced today that it has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with TSMC for collaboration to produce next-generation HBM and enhance logic and HBM integration through advanced packaging technology. The company plans to proceed with the development of HBM4, or the sixth generation of the HBM family, slated to be mass-produced from 2026, through this initiative.

SK hynix said the collaboration between the global leader in the AI memory space and TSMC, a top global logic foundry, will lead to more innovations in HBM technology. The collaboration is also expected to enable breakthroughs in memory performance through trilateral collaboration between product design, foundry, and memory provider. The two companies will first focus on improving the performance of the base die that is mounted at the very bottom of the HBM package. HBM is made by stacking a core DRAM die on top of a base die that features TSV technology, and vertically connecting a fixed number of layers in the DRAM stack to the core die with TSV into an HBM package. The base die located at the bottom is connected to the GPU, which controls the HBM.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has developed the industry's first LPDDR5X DRAM supporting the industry's highest performance of up to 10.7 gigabits-per-second (Gbps). Leveraging 12 nanometer (nm)-class process technology, Samsung has achieved the smallest chip size among existing LPDDRs, solidifying its technological leadership in the low-power DRAM market.

"As demand for low-power, high-performance memory increases, LPDDR DRAM is expected to expand its applications from mainly mobile to other areas that traditionally require higher performance and reliability such as PCs, accelerators, servers and automobiles," said YongCheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning of the Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung will continue to innovate and deliver optimized products for the upcoming on-device AI era through close collaboration with customers." With the surge in AI applications, on-device AI, which enables direct processing on devices, is becoming increasingly crucial, underscoring the need for low-power, high-performance LPDDR memory.

Corsair today announced it is entering the DDR5 Workstation market with the introduction of a range of WS DDR5 RDIMM memory kits. Engineered to offer uncompromising performance and reliability, these ECC RDIMM kits redefine the capabilities of the newest workstations, and are compatible with the latest 4th Gen Intel Xeon and AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 processors.

This new range of memory kits boasts capacities of up to 256 GB, setting a new standard for memory-intensive tasks such as high-resolution media editing, 3D rendering, and AI training. Rigorously tested and carefully screened, these modules surpass JEDEC specifications with tighter timings and higher frequencies, ensuring optimal performance for the most demanding workloads.

V-COLOR Technology Inc. unveiled its latest breakthrough in memory technology, the Manta XFinity series, now boasting speeds of up to DDR5-8600 with XMP profile. This series is already gaining recognition in the overclocking community by securing the 3rd spot on the Memory Frequency ranking in HWBOT, and is ready to create even larger impacts with its enhanced overclocking capabilities. Tested on the new ASRock Phantom Gaming Z790I Lightning Wi-Fi, and PHANTOM GAMING B760I Lightning Wi-Fi with Intel Core 14th Gen CPUs, this advancement ensures unmatched performance and reliability for enthusiasts and professionals alike.

Samsung Electronics America, the leader in advanced memory technology, today introduced the latest iteration of its EVO Select and EVO Plus microSD cards, designed for mobile devices and handheld gaming consoles. The Samsung EVO Select and EVO Plus microSD cards boast increased transfer speeds of up to 160 MB/s, a 23% increase over their predecessors. They offer a turnkey way for everyday users and gamers to add storage space to their devices for content like games, files, photos, and videos.

"With the mobile and handheld gaming market on the rise, we sought to make data transfers on those devices even faster with these updated EVO Select and EVO Plus lines," said Jose Hernandez, Senior Director of Memory Product Marketing at Samsung. "We also heard the need for more space options like a 1 TB memory card for digital files like games, video footage from phones, cameras and drones, photos, and creative designs. With this addition to the lineup, you can be confident you'll have plenty of space, fast speeds and the durability needed to last for years to come."

Introspect Technology, a JEDEC member and a leading manufacturer of test and measurement instruments, announced today that it has shipped the M5512 GDDR7 Memory Test System, the world's first commercial solution for testing JEDEC's newly minted JESD239 Graphics Double Data Rate (GDDR7) SGRAM specification. This category-creating solution enables graphics memory engineers, GPU design engineers, product engineers in both memory and GPU spaces, and system integrators to rapidly bring up new GDDR7 memory devices, debug protocol errors, characterize signal integrity, and perform detailed memory read/write functional stress testing without requiring any other tool.

The GDDR7 specification is the latest industry standard that is aimed at the creation of high-bandwidth and high-capacity memory implementations for graphics processing, artificial intelligence (AI), and AI-intensive networking. Featuring pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) and an improved signal to noise ratio compared to other PAM4 standards used in networking, the GDDR7 PAM3 modulation technology achieves greater power-efficiency while significantly increasing data transmission bandwidth over constrained electrical channels.