Back in July, JEDEC finalized the specifications for DDR5 memory, and laid out a number of key performance advantages over DDR4 including quadrupling the maximum die density to 64Gb and boosting maximum data rates from 3.2Gbps to 6.4Gbps [official]. Today, SK Hynix has announced that it is launching the world’s very first DDR5 DRAM chips.
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5G Mixes, Matches Memories
For consumers, 5G brings with it the potential of a better user experience on smartphones, but its influence on memory uptake won’t be at the device level.
Handset makers will continue to add more DRAM and flash storage to smartphones regardless of network connections. The memory in 5G network infrastructure will be even more diverse given the many use cases for the next generation of mobile networking.
Rambus Demonstrates HBM2E Running at 4 Gbps: 512 GB/s per HBM2E Stack
Rambus has demonstrated that its HBM2E solution, which consists of a memory controller and a verified 1024-bit PHY, can operate at a whopping 4.0 Gbps data transfer rate per pin. The demonstration is meant to prove potential clients that the HBM2E solution can scale and offer a 25% higher peak bandwidth than is officially defined by JEDEC’s HBM2E standard.
Micron Reveals GDDR6X Details: The Future of Memory, or a Proprietary DRAM?
Micron Technology shared some additional details about its latest GDDR6X SGRAM used by Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards at a virtual briefing last week. The company revealed that it has experimented for more than a decade with technologies enabling the new type of memory and said that GDDR6X SGRAM had not been standardized by JEDEC yet. Right now, only Nvidia uses GDDR6X memory, but Micron hopes this will change over time. Can it?
Micron Spills on GDDR6X: PAM4 Signaling For Higher Rates, Coming to NVIDIA’s RTX 3090
It would seem that Micron this morning has accidentally spilled the beans on the future of graphics card memory technologies – and outed one of NVIDIA’s next-generation RTX video cards in the process. In a technical brief that was posted to their website, dubbed “The Demand for Ultra-Bandwidth Solutions”, Micron detailed their portfolio of high-bandwidth memory technologies and the market needs for them. Included in this brief was information on the previously-unannounced GDDR6X memory technology, as well as some information on what seems to be the first card to use it, NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090.
Protecting against cybergeddon
Counterfeit chips, including gray market and rogue chips, have created an ongoing, multi-front battle for the semiconductor market to the tune of $75 billion annually, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. The threat is more significant and broader than the chip maker’s bottom line. Counterfeit chips have numerous hidden dangers, including higher failure rates, corruption of data that can cause a system malfunction, exfiltration or stealing of proprietary information, and making systems vulnerable to cyberattacks. If we look at lessons from the past, the market could be at an elevated risk now.
