Samsung unveils GDDR7 DRAM

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is touting the industry’s first 32 Gbits/s GDDR7 DRAM, targeting key customers for verification this year. The GDDR7 DRAM offers a 1.4× increase in performance and a 20% improvement in power efficiency, compared with the existing 24 Gbits/s GDDR6 DRAM introduced in 2022.

GDDR7 DRAM (Source: Samsung Electronics)

The 16-gigabit GDDR7 is reported to offer the industry’s highest speed for “outstanding” graphics performance in workstations, PCs and game consoles and opens up new opportunities in AI, high-performance computing (HPC) and automotive applications. It also provides additional stability, despite the high speed, due to changes in the IC design and packaging.

The GDDR7 delivers a bandwidth of 1.5-terabytes-per-second (TB/s) (1.4× that of GDDR6’s 1.1 TB/s) and features an increase in speed per pin of up to 32 Gbits/s. The enhancements are thanks to the pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM3) signaling method adopted for the new memory standard instead of the non-return-to-zero (NRZ) from previous generations, according to the company.

“PAM3 allows 50 percent more data to be transmitted than NRZ within the same signaling cycle,” said Samsung.

Another advance in the GDDR7 is the improvement in energy efficiency with power-saving design technology that is optimized for high-speed operations. A low-operating voltage option is also available for applications such as laptops where low power consumption is a key requirement.

Samsung also made some changes to minimize heat generation. The GDDR7 uses an epoxy molding compound (EMC) with high thermal conductivity for the packaging material in addition to IC architecture optimization. These improvements reduce thermal resistance by 70 percent in comparison to GDDR6, for higher stability even at high-speed operations, said the company.