While the concept of massive amounts of RAM seems like it could be overkill for desktop PCs and laptops, it’s a different story in servers. More memory is better, especially when working with artificial intelligence and big data workloads that can benefit from extra capacity to reduce iteration times.
That’s why it’s no surprise that Samsung is already working on its largest DRAM module ever, one capable of holding 1TB. It’s just a matter of time before we start to see this type of memory in systems built around AMD’s EPYC ‘Genoa’ and ‘Bergamo’ processors, and perhaps even Intel’s 7200-series CPUs.
To get to this point, Samsung has developed the industry’s first 32-gigabit (Gb) DDR5 ICs on 12 nanometer (nm) class technology. The company says it’s able to offer a 7200-megatransfers per second (MT/s) data transfer rate at JEDEC-standard 1.1 Volts, though it isn’t disclosing specific speed bins for the upcoming 32 Gb ICs.
At the module level, these ICs enable Samsung to build 1TB DRAM modules using 40 8-Hi 32Gb 3D stacked dies, or eight single-die 32 Gb memory chips. It’s also able to do so at a 10% lower power consumption than the equivalent 128 GB DDR5 RDIMMs that it currently produces. This drop in power can be attributed to both the monolithic design of the new ICs and the fact that they do away with the through-silicon via process required for the production of 128 GB DDR5 modules.
The company expects to start mass production of these 32 Gb ICs early next year, and it may launch them for client PCs first. But since it typically takes a while for server platform developers and vendors to validate and qualify new memory components, we’ll probably wait a bit before seeing these 1TB RDIMMs in servers, at least initially.
Samsung has been a pioneer in DDR5 development, and its current lineup of monolithic 16Gb and 24Gb DRAM ICs is well-suited to the needs of current-generation Intel and AMD server platforms. It’s also been readying a lineup of 512GB RDIMMs for next-generation platforms that will use its monolithic 32Gb ICs, and the company is planning to release inexpensive 32Gb UDIMMs for client PCs. This makes it likely that we’ll see Samsung’s 512GB monolithic RDIMMs debut in the 2024 – 2025 timeframe, with support for the memory speed bins required by AMD’s Genoa and Bergamo processors.