Reuters reports that a sudden (if ridiculous) 5% drop in memory chip prices in Q4 2017 has brought revenue expectations and investors' profit measurements to a teetering halt. 5% may not look like much - it certainly isn't much when we look at the historic price increases that almost doubled the cost of DDR4 memory kits, as you can see in the PC Part Picker chart below. This memory module price chart doesn't include the 5% drop yet, probably because it takes time for memory chip pricing to materialize in end-user module pricing. But for investors, it's like a spark in a paper archive - it could signal an impending price decrease that would push all profit estimates out the window.

This 5% drop in pricing has prompted industry analysts to review their profit estimates for 2018, and expect that the memory industry's growth rate will fall by more than half this year to 30 percent. You read that right - investors are scared because growth rates will be 30 percent instead of 60 percent. Oh the joys of inflated pricing, and slower-than-usual ramp-up to keep demand higher than supply. The joys of economic capitalism, where prices for consumers go up, and an industries' value skyrockets by more than 70$ in a single year (2017).

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has started mass production of its 2nd-generation 8-gigabyte (GB) High Bandwidth Memory-2 (HBM2) with the fastest data transmission speed on the market today. The new solution, Aquabolt, which is the industry's first HBM2 to deliver a 2.4 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) data transfer speed per pin, should accelerate the expansion of supercomputing and the graphics card market.

"With our production of the first 2.4 Gbps 8 GB HBM2, we are further strengthening our technology leadership and market competitiveness," said Jaesoo Han, executive vice president, Memory Sales & Marketing team at Samsung Electronics. "We will continue to reinforce our command of the DRAM market by assuring a stable supply of HBM2 worldwide, in accordance with the timing of anticipated next-generation system launches by our customers."

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced the Samsung Notebook 7 Spin (2018), a versatile notebook that provides consumers with the accessibility needed to remain productive in today's digital world. Designed for working professionals, students and those looking for entertainment, the Notebook 7 Spin (2018) offers modern features including a 360-degree touchscreen for added convenience; an Active Pen (sold separately) for quick and easy note-taking; as well as the power and performance for more efficient multi-tasking.

"Our customers wanted a functional, intuitive device that includes a wide range of their favorite features, and that's what we've delivered with the Notebook 7 Spin (2018)," said YoungGyoo Choi, Senior Vice President of the PC Business Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. "This device meets the needs of today's digital lifestyle, combining work and play with a smart, seamless and personalized experience that connects users with their other devices."

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced the launch of its latest premium application processor (AP), the Exynos 9 Series 9810. The Exynos 9810, built on Samsung's second-generation 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET process, brings the next level of performance to smartphones and smart devices with its powerful third-generation custom CPU, faster gigabit LTE modem and sophisticated image processing with deep learning-based software. In recognition of its innovation and technological advancements, Samsung's Exynos 9 Series 9810 has been selected as a CES 2018 Innovation Awards HONOREE in the Embedded Technologies product category and will be displayed at the event, which runs January 9-12, 2018, in Las Vegas, USA.

"The Exynos 9 Series 9810 is our most innovative mobile processor yet, with our third-generation custom CPU, ultra-fast gigabit LTE modem and, deep learning-enhanced image processing," said Ben Hur, vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. "The Exynos 9810 will be a key catalyst for innovation in smart platforms such as smartphones, personal computing and automotive for the coming AI era."

Samsung Electronics will expand the connectivity and performance capabilities of its signature curved display line-up with the debut of its new CJ791 monitor, the first curved monitor to feature Intel's Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. Designed for entertainment and business audiences, the 34-inch CJ791 model aligns single-source power and processing speed with an exceptional picture quality for a comfortable and productive user experience.

Through a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, CJ791 users can link and dock their monitor and laptop without extensive wiring. The Thunderbolt 3 connection provides processing speed of up to 40 Gigabits per second (Gbps) - a rate nearly four times faster than USB alternatives - allowing users to enjoy connectivity across a full ecosystem of docks, displays and peripheral devices including Macs, USB type-C laptops, and other desktop accessories like storage drives or external graphics cards. The Thunderbolt 3 interface also enables the CJ791 to provide up to 85 watts (W) of laptop charging power.

It's been a couple years now that we've seen continuously increasing pricing of DRAM and NAND semiconductors. The price increase, which has been hailed and documented over, over, andover again (and there are way more articles on this subject here on TPU), follows reported increased demand which has failed to be accompanied by its respective manufacturing and supply ability.

However, reports that companies were planning on increasing production of DRAM and NAND below the expected increases in supply demand may have turned at least some regulatory eyes towards the issue. China's National Development and Reform Commission's Pricing Supervision Department (NDRC) said they are aware of the situation, how it could point towards price-fixing from the four major NAND production players (Samsung, Hynix, Micron and Toshiba), and are looking into the matter. "We have noticed the price surge and will pay more attention to future problems that may be caused by 'price fixing' in the sector," the official Xu Xinyu was quoted as saying in an interview to Chinese newspaper Daily China.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is announcing the world's fastest performance 64GB DDR4 SO-DIMM memory running at DDR4-3466MHz CL17-17-17-37 at 1.35V with a 4x16GB kit configuration. Constructed with rigorously hand-selected Samsung B-die DDR4 IC components, this new Ripjaws DDR4 SO-DIMM memory kit elevates the computing power of small-form-factor (SFF) PCs to a whole new realm of memory performance, allowing you to design a miniature powerhouse system for virtually any tasks ranging from content creation to gaming.

The Perfect Trio: High Capacity, High Frequency, Low Timings
The need of faster and larger capacity memory kits continue to rise as modern day workloads increases in both capacity and weight. To tackle this need, G.SKILL is expanding the delivery of maximum memory performance across all memory capacities; and by using 16GB SO-DIMM modules, high-end machines and workstation PCs can now be built in the size of a SFF system that can fit into a shoebox. Shown in the following screenshot is the high capacity 64GB SO-DIMM memory kit running at DDR4-3466MHz CL17-17-17-37 and being tested for over 6 hours on the ASRock X299E-ITX/ac mini-ITX motherboard with the Intel Core i9-7900X processor.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today announced Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) 1.3 certification for the Samsung ARTIK 05x series of modules, the first system-on-module family to be certified using new OCF standards for trust and connectivity for IoT. With the ARTIK 05x series, companies can quickly build Wi-Fi enabled edge products that meet OCF standards for interoperability, and take advantage of the ARTIK platform's built-in hardware and software solutions to ensure reliability, safety and privacy for connected products.

The OCF certification program ensures companies can create products that work seamlessly with other OCF certified IoT devices regardless of their form factor, operating system or service providers. OCF 1.3 certification assures interoperability with OCF specific testing and certification, improving time-to-market, and enhancing the customer experience.

Samsung Electronics unveiled the concept of the FITT360, a 360-degree wearable camcorder, last year. The K-ICT Born2Global Centre announced that accelerated and spun off from Samsung Electronics with this concept developed, LINKFLOW is bringing this state-of-the-art technology to the market via Kickstarter with full details to be disclosed. FITT360 is wearable around the neck all day with its light and portable design. Ergonomically designed to fit everybody while keeping it unobtrusive with its sleek neckband form, FITT360 is rain-, snow-, heat-, and shockproof to endure users' life. With patented image stabilization, live stitching and streaming functionality, FITT360 opens up possibilities for tele-presence and life streaming scenarios. With life logging in mind, the built-in GPS enables users to keep their personal 360 video-logs within the companion mobile application.

Throughout 2017, DRAM manufacturers faced pressure to boost output of their devices-particularly high-performance DRAM used in data center servers, and low-power high-density DRAM used in smartphones and other mobile products. Strong, ongoing demand put significant upward pressure on DRAM average selling prices. This trend continued into 4Q17 and is expected to drive quarterly DRAM sales to an all time high mark of $21.1 billion (Figure 1), capping an incredible year of growth in which DRAM sales set a new all time high sales mark each quarter. The forecast $21.1 billion sales level in 4Q17 would be an increase of 65% compared to the $12.8 billion DRAM market of 4Q16.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is announcing the world's highest performance DDR4 SO-DIMM memory running at DDR4-4000 MHz CL18-18-18-38 32 GB (4x8 GB) at 1.35V. Combining high frequency and ultra-low timing, this Ripjaws DDR4 SO-DIMM memory kit is capable of achieving the new high level of performance through rigorously hand-binned Samsung B-die DDR4 IC components.

Just two months ago, G.SKILL announced the high performance DDR4-3800MHz CL18-18-18-38 Ripjaws DDR4 SO-DIMM kit. Aiming to push memory limits to yet another level, G.SKILL strives to deliver the best memory performance possible on current systems, and this time for small form factor (SFF) PCs. With this new SO-DIMM memory kit, SFF PCs can now unlock the full potential of memory performance, as shown in the following screenshot, where this new memory kit is tested for over 6 hours on the ASRock X299E-ITX/ac mini-ITX motherboard with the Intel Core i9-7900X processor.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing the industry's first 2nd-generation of 10-nanometer class (1y-nm), 8-gigabit (Gb) DDR4 DRAM. For use in a wide range of next-generation computing systems, the new 8 Gb DDR4 features the highest performance and energy efficiency for an 8 Gb DRAM chip, as well as the smallest dimensions.

"By developing innovative technologies in DRAM circuit design and process, we have broken through what has been a major barrier for DRAM scalability," said Gyoyoung Jin, president of Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. "Through a rapid ramp-up of the 2nd-generation 10 nm-class DRAM, we will expand our overall 10 nm-class DRAM production more aggressively, in order to accommodate strong market demand and continue to strengthen our business competitiveness."

Since its launch in August, Samsung's CHG90 - the world's largest QLED gaming monitor - has emerged as an industry innovator and pioneer. The monitor's leadership position recently received further validation from the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), who, following a rigorous testing procedure, confirmed that the CHG90 (along with the CHG70) exemplifies its DisplayHDR 600 performance standards and is the industry's first display to be certified as DisplayHDR compliant.

Up until recently, there had been no standard specification for the HDR performance of PC monitors and laptop computer displays. But earlier this year, VESA, an international non-profit that sets and supports industry-wide interface standards for displays, established the DisplayHDR standard. The fully open standard specifies HDR quality, including luminance, color gamut, bit depth and rise time. It consists of three levels (DisplayHDR 400, 600, 1000); specifically, the DisplayHDR 600 tier indicates that HDR content can be enjoyed in bright indoor lighting conditions.

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced the new Samsung Notebook 9 Pen and three new versions of the Samsung Notebook 9 (2018), offering a mobile computing experience that matches how people are using their PCs: whether at work, on the go and everything in between. Designed to deliver the best in mobility, these four new notebooks ensure a computing experience that is powerful, portable, connected and secure. When paired with the latest productivity tools and services available from Samsung, the Notebook 9 Pen and Notebook 9 (2018) are the perfect complement to match a lifestyle where work or play can happen anywhere and at any time.

"At Samsung, we have long felt that technology must fit within the lives of the consumer, not the other way around. Over the past several years, the lines between our personal and professional lives have started to blur creating the need for technology that allows us to connect, collaborate and share from anywhere," said YoungGyoo Choi, Senior Vice President of the PC Business Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. "The new Samsung Notebook 9 Pen and enhanced Samsung Notebook 9 (2018) offer our customers premium, powerful and portable devices that provide the tools to securely work from anywhere, breaking the boundaries of previously accepted standards for what a notebook should be."

This news may really not come as such; it's more of a statement in logical, albeit unconfirmed facts rather than something unexpected. AMD is working (naturally) on a GDDR6 memory controller, which it's looking to leverage in its next generations of graphics cards. This is an expected move: AMD is expected to continue using more exotic HBM memory implementations on its top tier products, but that leaves a lot of GPU space in their product stack that needs to be fed by high-speed memory solutions. With GDDR6 nearing widespread production and availability, it's only natural that AMD is looking to upgrade its controllers for the less expensive, easier to implement memory solution on its future products.

The confirmation is still worth mention, though, as it comes straight from a principal engineer on AMD's technical team, Daehyun Jun. A Linked In entry (since removed) stated that he was/is working on a DRAM controller for GDDR6 memory since September 2016. GDDR6 memory brings advantages of higher operating frequencies and lower power consumption against GDDR5 memory, and should deliver higher potential top frequencies than GDDR5X, which is already employed in top tier NVIDIA cards. GDDR6, when released, will start by delivering today's GDDR5X top speeds of roughly 14 Gbps, with a current maximum of 16 Gbps being achievable on the technology. This means more bandwidth (up-to double over current 8 Gbps GDDR5) and higher clock frequency memory. GDDR6 will be rated at 1.35 v, the same as GDDR5X.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass production of the industry's first 512-gigabyte (GB) embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) solution for use in next-generation mobile devices. Utilizing Samsung's latest 64-layer 512-gigabit (Gb) V-NAND chips, the new 512GB eUFS package provides unparalleled storage capacity and outstanding performance for upcoming flagship smartphones and tablets.

"The new Samsung 512GB eUFS provides the best embedded storage solution for next-generation premium smartphones by overcoming potential limitations in system performance that can occur with the use of micro SD cards," said Jaesoo Han, executive vice president of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "By assuring an early, stable supply of this advanced embedded storage, Samsung is taking a big step forward in contributing to timely launches of next-generation mobile devices by mobile manufacturers around the world."

KDDI and Samsung Electronics have successfully completed the first 5G demonstration on a moving train traveling at over 100 km/hour (over 60 mph). This was achieved along a section of track where the distance between two stations was approximately 1.5km (nearly 1 mile). During the demonstration, the companies achieved a successful downlink and uplink handover as well as a peak speed of 1.7 Gbps. The tests were carried out from October 17th through the 19th in the city of Saitama in Japan, near Tokyo. For the tests, Samsung's 5G pre-commercial end-to-end solution was used, which is composed of a 5G router (CPE), radio access unit (5G Radio), virtualized RAN and virtualized core.

The demonstration leveraged capabilities driven by 5G, such as high throughput, low latency and massive connections, which verified potential services and use cases that would be highly-beneficial to passengers and operators of high-speed trains. This could pave the way to vastly improved backhaul for onboard WiFi, superior passenger infotainment and increased security and analytics.

Users of Samsung's 960 Pro SSD's that have updated to the latest firmware version (3B6QCXP7) have been reporting far, wide, and through a variety of outlets, the existence of problems that lead to application instability and OS freezes lasting for several seconds before the system resumes normal functions. Apparently, there's no hard-crashing involved as of yet, though the issue seems to be widespread enough that it's generating discussion in Samsung's forums, our own, and some other tech publication's. It seems the 960 Pro is getting stuck with 100% activity reports in the task manager with read and write speeds of 0. At the same time, some users are reporting performance degradation by sometimes up to 1,400 MB/s in read speeds when benchmarking the drives, which also doesn't bode well for the firmware's pedigree.

The issue has been replicated by users running Perfect Disk while running SSD Optimization modes. A Samsung representative in the Forums seems to be on top of the issue, asking users for information on their systems and configuration before escalating the situation and reporting, though so far, it seems that the problem is being dismissed as being not widespread enough to be considered a cause for alarm. Samsung''s 960 Pro firmware can't be rolled back by users to a previous version, though, so take this post as a heads-up and maybe wait for a newer firmware revision, just to play it safe. A statement from Samsung follows after the break.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that its Foundry Business has commenced mass production of System-on-Chip (SoC) products built on its second generation 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET process technology, 10LPP (Low Power Plus).

10LPP process technology allows up to 10-percent higher performance or 15-percent lower power consumption compared to its first generation 10nm process technology, 10LPE (Low Power Early). As this process is derived from the already proven 10LPE technology, it offers competitive advantages by greatly reducing turn-around time from development to mass production and by providing significantly higher initial manufacturing yield. SoCs designed with 10LPP process technology will be used in digital devices scheduled to launch early next year and are expected to become more widely available throughout the year.

If 2015 was all about OLED, and 2016-17 about quantum-dot (QLED), Samsung will herald the MicroLED display panel era in 2018, with its first implementation, a massive 150-inch television, which will be showcased at the 2018 International CES. A MicroLED panel uses solid-state LED elements etched onto a silicon-substrate, that are less than 100 µm in size, each, which act as individual pixels. If you're familiar with microscopic transistors that make up modern semiconductor chips, imagine if LEDs were built on that scale. That's MicroLED.

With further development, MicroLED panels will achieve higher pixel densities, and won't suffer form "burn-in" problems that OLED (organic LED) panels suffer from displaying the same image over extended periods of time. It also offers significantly lower power-draw compared to OLED. The 150-inch MicroLED TV prototype Samsung is showing off at CES will come with 4K Ultra HD resolution. Samsung's next implementation of the MicroLED tech could be smartphone display panels. The company's main rival in this area, Apple, is already working with TSMC to develop MicroLED panels of its own.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to announce new ultra-low latency additions to the Trident Z RGB series memory kits, starting from DDR4-4000MHz CL17-17-17-37 up to DDR4-4266MHz CL17-18-18-38 32GB (4x8GB). This is the first time in tech history that DDR4 memory kits above DDR4-4000MHz speed is available at the low CL17 timing, and with lower timings, memory kits can utilize high frequency to its fullest potential with improved memory performance. To achieve the ultra-low latency of CL17, these new memory kits are made with rigorously hand-binned, high-performance Samsung B-die DDR4 IC components.

As the leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory, G.SKILL is always improving and reaching higher levels of performance than ever before. The fastest selection from the new Trident Z RGB lineup is available at DDR4-4266MHz CL17-18-18-38 32GB (4x8GB) at 1.45V. The following screenshot shows this new memory kit running on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO motherboard with the Intel Core i7-8700K processor.

As big data usage is becoming ubiquitous, and workload data-sets increase in both size and complexity, new ways of connecting processing resources to storage are being developed. Intel and Micron's partnership in developing 3D XPoint memory came as a way for computer systems to reduce their bottlenecks in storing data for processing, with a particular emphasis on reducing latency. Samsung, however, has enough resources to try and provide alternatives for the emergent market needs, and being one of the most important players in the NAND industry, it seems the company is betting on the Z-NAND wagon.

For now, Z-NAND as it is being developed by Samsung, is expected to be a new rendition of SLC (Single-Level Cell) NAND, with increased controller tweaks and improvements to achieve greater IOPS in both random and sequential workloads. SLC has already been widely used in the SSD market, though in recent years it has been giving way to density-oriented technologies, such as MLC and, more recently, TLC NAND, in an effort to lower the $/GB equation. Z-NAND is a return to the SLC roots, with some very relevant tricks up its sleeve - while 3D XPoint's call to fame was sometimes up to 10x lower latency (in the order of 10/10μs), Z-NAND is also bringing latency to levels hitherto unknown to NAND memory - specifically, to the 12-20/16μs realms.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to announce the never-seen-before 32GB (4x8GB) Trident Z memory kit at an extremely blistering DDR4-4400MHz CL19-19-19-39. This new DDR4 Trident Z dual-channel memory kit upgrades the four-DIMM configuration to the next level as the world's fastest 32GB (4x8GB) memory kit in the world. These extremely high-speed desktop modules are manufactured with rigorously tested and binned ultra-performance Samsung B-die DDR4 ICs.

After the launch of the 8th Gen Intel Core processors and Z370 chipset motherboards, G.SKILL has been constantly pushing DDR4 speeds faster than ever before to higher levels with various capacity configurations. With the availability of the ASUS OptiMem technology, which complements the T-Toplogy layout that uses equalized trace lengths, four-DIMM memory configuration has improved stability and memory overclocking performance. G.SKILL Trident Z memory once again achieves the world's fastest 32GB memory kit at the ultra-high DDR4-4400MHz speed, with an exceptionally aggressive timing of CL19-19-19-39 in 32GB (4x8GB) at 1.5V. Below is the screenshot of the memory kit being stress tested and demonstrating its stability on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI AC) motherboard with the Intel Core i7-8700K processor.

Samsung managed to snag 36 CES 2018 Design and Innovation awards, and the company took to a press release to acknowledge the honors, and shed some light on some of its upcoming products and technologies. Of particular interest to us enthusiasts is the presence of GDDR6 memory, which Samsung says is "(...) The fastest and lowest-power DRAM for next generation, graphics-intensive applications." this new memory is expected to process images and video at 16 Gbps with 64GB/s data I/O bandwidth, which is capable of up to 5 GB/s speeds. Additionally, Samsung said the new DRAM can operate at 1.35 V, offering increased power efficiency over today's graphics memory (which typically requires 1.5 V).

Samsung also announced a NGSFF (Next-Generation Form-Factor) SSD solution, which "dramatically improves the storage capacity and performance of 1U rack servers," which allows for I/O speeds at 0.5 petabytes per second. Measuring only 30.5mm x 110mm x 4.38mm, the drive also improves space utilization and scaling options in hyper-scale datacenter servers.

Samsung Electronics today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017. Samsung's revenue for the quarter was KRW 62.05 trillion, an increase of KRW 14.23 trillion YoY, while operating profit for the quarter posted a record KRW 14.53 trillion, an increase of KRW 9.33 trillion YoY.

In the third quarter, strong demand for high-performance memory chipsets for servers and flagship mobile devices was a contributing factor to the company's overall robust performance. The Semiconductor Business registered significant earnings growth both YoY and QoQ, and the System LSI added to the earnings rally through increased sales of DDIs and image sensors. The display panel segment posted an earnings decline despite the expanded sales of flexible OLED panels for premium smartphones. The Mobile Business saw strong shipments thanks to the launch of Galaxy Note 8 and solid sales of the new Galaxy J series, but its earnings declined QoQ due to the higher sales proportion of mass-market smartphones.