Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun sampling the industry’s first 16-gigabit (Gb) Graphics Double Data Rate 6 (GDDR6) DRAM featuring 24-gigabit-per-second (Gbps) processing speeds. Built on Samsung’s third-generation 10-nanometer-class (1z)¹ process using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology, the new memory is designed to significantly advance the graphics performance for next-generation graphics cards (Video Graphics Arrays), laptops and game consoles, as well as artificial intelligence-based applications and high-performance computing (HPC) systems.

“The explosion of data now being driven by AI and the metaverse is pushing the need for greater graphics capabilities that can process massive data sets simultaneously, at extremely high speeds,” said Daniel Lee, Executive Vice President of the Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics. “With our industry-first 24Gbps GDDR6 now sampling, we look forward to validating the graphics DRAM on next-generation GPU platforms to bring it to market in time to meet an onslaught of new demand.”

Engineered with an innovative circuit design and a highly advanced insulating material (High-K Metal Gate; HKMG) that minimizes current leakage, Samsung’s 24Gbps GDDR6 will deliver 30% faster speeds compared to the previous 18Gbps product. When integrated into a premium graphics card, the GDDR6 DRAM can transfer up to 1.1-terabytes (TB) of data, or about 275 Full HD movies, in just one second.

Designed to be fully compliant with JEDEC specifications, Samsung’s GDDR6 DRAM will be compatible across all GPU designs, facilitating broad market adoption in a wide array of graphics solutions.

Samsung’s new GDDR6 lineup will also feature low-power options that help extend the battery life of laptops. Utilizing dynamic voltage switching (DVS) technology which adjusts the operating voltage depending on performance requirements, Samsung will provide 20Gbps and 16Gbps versions with approximately 20% higher power efficiency at 1.1V, compared to the 1.35V GDDR6 industry standard.

Graphics DRAM is increasingly being sought for use beyond PCs, laptops and game consoles, extending into other graphics-intensive applications like HPC, autonomous driving and electric cars. Addressing these emerging markets, Samsung’s GDDR6 will enable seamless 4K and 8K video playback, while supporting demanding AI accelerator workloads.

Samsung continues to lead the graphics DRAM market globally and forecasts that the high-performance graphics portion will see double-digit growth annually in the coming years.

With customer verifications starting this month, Samsung plans to commercialize its 24Gbps GDDR6 DRAM in line with GPU platform launches, therein accelerating graphics innovation throughout the high-speed computing market.

¹ Samsung’s first-generation 10nm-class DRAM is termed 1x, followed by 1y (second-generation), 1z (third-generation), 1a (fourth-generation) and so on.

“It is exciting to see our environmentally sustainable efforts receiving global acknowledgements,” said Seong-dai Jang, Senior Vice President and Head of DS Corporate Sustainability Management Office at Samsung Electronics. “We will continue our path towards a sustainable future with ‘greener’ chips enabled by Samsung’s cutting-edge technology.”

Five Memory Products Achieve the Carbon Trust ‘Reducing CO2’ Certification

Five Samsung memory products – HBM2E (8GB), GDDR6 (8Gb), UFS 3.1 (512GB), Portable SSD T7 (1TB), microSD EVO Select (128GB) – recently earned ‘Reducing CO2’ labels from the Carbon Trust. The previous versions of the five products had received the ‘CO2 Measured’ certification from the Carbon Trust last year. The Carbon Trust recently also certified the product carbon footprints of 20 memory products¹ by giving them the ‘CO2 Measured’ product carbon footprint label.

The Carbon Trust is an independent and expert partner of organizations that advises businesses on their opportunities in a sustainable, low-carbon world. The Carbon Trust also certifies the environmental footprint of organizations, supply chains and products.

The Reducing CO2 label certifies that a product’s carbon emission has decreased. Samsung was able to cut the carbon emission of the five memory products through enhanced production efficiency. This means that less electricity and raw materials were used per chip. For the Portable SSD T7 (1TB), Samsung used environmentally sustainable paper instead of plastic as packaging material to minimize the carbon footprint of the product.

Samsung estimates that the volume of carbon emissions reduced from the five products, after their release until July 2021, amounts to approximately 680,000 metric tons of CO2, which is equivalent to 11.3 million urban tree seedlings grown for ten years or the greenhouse gas emitted from 149,000 cars driven for one year.

Before a product can be certified for carbon reduction, its current carbon footprint must be validated in order to set the starting line for measuring carbon footprint changes. The CO2 Measured label verifies the current carbon emission of the product with a globally recognized specification (PAS 2050). Thus, the 20 Samsung memory products with the CO2 Measured label has now set the benchmark for future carbon reduction.

“We have certified five of Samsung’s memory chip products with the CO2 Reducing label, and are pleased to bring on board 20 more products with the CO2 Measured label,” said Hugh Jones, Managing Director at the Carbon Trust Advisory. “We hope that Samsung’s efforts could spread out to the entire semiconductor industry, so that the industry can continue its journey towards a more sustainable future.”

Carbon Footprint of C-series 3W Automotive LEDs Verified by UL

Four C-series 3W Automotive LED packages manufactured by Samsung – Gen3 (third generation) 3W White, Gen3 3W Amber, Gen2 (second generation) 3W White and Gen2 3W Amber – received verification of their carbon footprint to ISO 14064-3 by UL.

UL, the global safety science leader, provides testing, inspection and certification, advisory and risk management services, decision-making tools, training and business intelligence offerings to help customers based in more than 100 countries solve critical business challenges, achieve sustainability goals and prepare for future opportunities.

Since Samsung’s C-series 3W Automotive LED packages are energy efficient products that draw less power but produces more light output, they reduce carbon emissions of cars by improving energy efficiency and ensure longer driving range for electric vehicles in a single charge.

“UL congratulates Samsung for pursuing carbon footprint verification for their four C-series 3W Automotive LED packages, which will help automotive manufacturers select products with transparent, verified information about their environmental footprint,” said Doug Lockard, Vice President and General Manager of UL’s Retail and Consumer Products group. “By understanding the carbon impact of products, manufacturers like Samsung can work to reduce those impacts and improve the environmental performance of products over time.”

¹ SODIMM (8GB/16GB), LPDDR5 (8GB/12GB/16GB), RDIMM (16GB/32GB), 980 PRO SSD (250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB), HBM2E (16GB), GDDR6 (16Gb), UFS 3.1 (128GB/256GB), microSD EVO Select (64GB/256GB/512GB), Portable SSD T7 (500GB/2TB)

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that its 16-gigabit (Gb) Graphics Double Data Rate 6 (GDDR6) memory is being used in NVIDIA’s new Turing architecture-based Quadro® RTX GPUs.

Thanks to Samsung’s industry-leading 16Gb GDDR6 memory, end users can expect improved performance and energy efficiency in the widest array of graphics-intensive applications, including computer-aided design (CAD), digital content creation (DCC) and scientific visualization applications. Samsung’s 16Gb GDDR6 can also be used in rapidly growing fields such as 8K Ultra HD video processing, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Samsung is leading the graphics market by offering the first available 16Gb GDDR6, which doubles the device capacity of the company’s 20-nanometer 8Gb GDDR5 memory. The new solution performs at a 14-gigabits-per-second (Gbps) pin speed with data transfers of 56 gigabytes per second (GB/s), which represents a 75 percent increase over 8Gb GDDR5 with its 8Gbps pin speed.

Moreover, Samsung’s GDDR6 consumes 35 percent less power than that required by the leading GDDR5 graphics solutions. Using a state-of-the-art low-power circuit design, the Samsung 16Gb GDDR6 operates at 1.35V compared to the 1.55V consumed by GDDR5 commonly found in the market today.

“It’s a tremendous privilege to have been selected by NVIDIA to launch Samsung’s 16Gb GDDR6, and to have enjoyed the full confidence of their design team in making our key contribution to the NVIDIA Quadro RTX GPUs,” said Jim Elliott, Corporate Senior Vice President at Samsung Semiconductor.

Unveiled today by NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang at the annual SIGGRAPH conference, the NVIDIA® Quadro RTX 8000, Quadro RTX 6000 and Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs bring hardware-accelerated ray tracing, AI, advanced shading and simulation to creative professionals. The new Quadro RTX GPUs will be available worldwide starting in October 2018.

“Our new Quadro RTX professional GPUs are the industry’s first to integrate Samsung’s high-speed GDDR6 memory technology,” said Bob Pette, Vice President, Professional Visualization, NVIDIA. “With up to 48GB capacity, our GPUs accommodate the largest models and scenes, and increase application performance, enabling professionals to design, develop and deliver much better results with faster turnaround.”

“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 10nm-class DRAM, we will expand our overall 10nm-class DRAM production more aggressively, in order to accommodate strong market demand and continue to strengthen our business competitiveness.”

Samsung’s 2nd-generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 features an approximate 30 percent productivity gain over the company’s 1st–generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4. In addition, the new 8Gb DDR4’s performance levels and energy efficiency have been improved about 10 and 15 percent respectively, thanks to the use of an advanced, proprietary circuit design technology. The new 8Gb DDR4 can operate at 3,600 megabits per second (Mbps) per pin, compared to 3,200 Mbps of the company’s 1x-nm 8Gb DDR4.

To enable these achievements, Samsung has applied new technologies, without the use of an EUV process. The innovation here includes use of a high-sensitivity cell data sensing system and a progressive “air spacer” scheme.

In the cells of Samsung’s 2nd-generation 10nm-class DRAM, a newly devised data sensing system enables a more accurate determination of the data stored in each cell, which leads to a significant increase in the level of circuit integration and manufacturing productivity.

The new 10nm-class DRAM also makes use of a unique air spacer that has been placed around its bit lines to dramatically decrease parasitic capacitance**. Use of the air spacer enables not only a higher level of scaling, but also rapid cell operation.

With these advancements, Samsung is now accelerating its plans for much faster introductions of next-generation DRAM chips and systems, including DDR5, HBM3, LPDDR5 and GDDR6, for use in enterprise servers, mobile devices, supercomputers, HPC systems and high-speed graphics cards.

Samsung has finished validating its 2nd-generation 10nm-class DDR4 modules with CPU manufacturers, and next plans to work closely with its global IT customers in the development of more efficient next-generation computing systems.

In addition, the world’s leading DRAM producer expects to not only rapidly increase the production volume of the 2nd-generation 10nm-class DRAM lineups, but also to manufacture more of its mainstream 1st-generation 10nm-class DRAM, which together will meet the growing demands for DRAM in premium electronic systems worldwide.

* Editors’ Note 1: 10nm-class denotes a process technology node somewhere between 10 and 19 nanometers. Samsung launched its first DRAM product based on a 10nm-class process in February, 2016.

** Editors’ Note 2: Parasitic capacitance is unwanted capacitance that exists between the parts of an electronic circuit or electronic part, because of their proximity to each other. When two electrical conductors at different voltages are too close together, they are adversely affected by each other’s electric field and store opposite electric charges such as those produced by a capacitor.

Samsung Electronics, a global leader in technology, today announced that 36 of its latest products have been recognized as CES®2018 Innovation Awards winners. Products awarded in this prestigious program are honored for outstanding design and engineering in cutting-edge consumer electronics technology across 28 product categories.

Samsung’s award-winning products include two Best of Innovation and span categories across Virtual and Augmented Reality, Wearable Technologies, Video Displays, Home Appliances, and Smart Home. This marks the first year where Samsung has won in the CES Innovation Award category of Fitness, Sports and Biotech for the Gear Sport, Gear Fit2 Pro, and Gear IconX (2018).

“Innovation is in our DNA, as is our commitment to delivering transformational products that create meaningful experiences for our consumers,” said Tim Baxter, President and CEO, Samsung Electronics North America. “To be recognized by our industry peers, year over year, for our relentless pursuit of innovative design and engineering is truly an honor.”

The CES Innovation Awards are sponsored by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the owner and organizer of CES. Many of Samsung’s industry recognized products will be on display at CES 2018, which takes place January 9-12, 2018, in the Samsung booth (#15006) located in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Following are details on a selection of Samsung’s award-winning products:

Gear Fit2 Pro – The new Gear Fit2 Pro features combines built-in GPS tracking with new continuous heart rate monitoring and powerful Under Armour applications to capture every run or ride accurately. With 5ATM water resistance, it allows users to withstand the pool, rain and even a post-workout shower. For added comfortability and convenience, the Gear Fit2 Pro has a slim design and light weight band, as well as a high-resolution color touchscreen that makes real-time updates and notifications easy to read while on the move.

Gear Sport – The latest smartwatch in Samsung’s industry-leading wearable portfolio, the Gear Sport is a stylish blend of fitness tracking and smart capabilities for people with active lifestyles. The Gear Sport transitions easily from work to workout with swim-ready water resistance (5ATM) and all-day fitness and calorie tracking. And with smart features like Samsung Pay (NFC), IOT control, and even offline music playback with Spotify, the Gear Sport is ready for whatever the day has in store.

Gear IconX (2018) – The new Gear IconX 2018 empowers users to effortlessly listen to their favorite music. Whether commuting or at the gym, these powerful cord-free headphones let users stream music via Bluetooth for up to 5-hours and play favorites from their MP3 playlist for up 7-hours. In addition to a 10-minute quick charge feature giving one hour of playtime, users can use the earbuds as an activity tracker and make voice commands through Samsung Bixby or Google Voice on your phone without even having it in your hand.

Samsung HMD Odyssey – In partnership with Microsoft, the Samsung HMD Odyssey offers an immersive Windows Mixed Reality experience. With dual 3.5-inch AMOLED high-resolution displays, 110-degree field of view, AKG head-headphones and voice command activation, the HMD Odyssey takes consumers to entirely new virtual limits.

Galaxy Note8 – The Galaxy Note8 features a bigger 6.3-inch Infinity Display so consumers can view more and scroll less. The enhanced S Pen¹ allows users to unlock new ways to write, draw and interact with the phone and communicate with others, including taking Screen off memos, creating a Live Message² and multitasking on the go. It also offers Samsung’s best-ever smartphone camera featuring two 12MP rear cameras and the world’s first smartphone with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) on both wide-angle and telephoto lenses.

Galaxy S8 and S8+ – The Galaxy S8 and S8+ push the boundaries of traditional smartphones and build on Samsung’s heritage of creating stunning designs and functional devices. Available in 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8+, the Infinity Display and bezel-less design form a smooth, continuous surface with no buttons or harsh angles. The result is a truly immersive viewing experience without distractions and makes multi-tasking more convenient.

49” CHG90 Gaming Monitor – With a 32:9 aspect ratio and curved display, this groundbreaking, ultra-wide monitor fully immerses the user in gameplay, delivering cinematic viewing for all types of content. The CHG90 supports AMD’s Radeon FreeSync 2 technology for a smoother gaming experience with twice the perceivable brightness and color. The monitor also features stunning visuals powered by High Dynamic Range (HDR) picture-enhancement technology, which, when paired with Samsung’s QLED Quantum Dot technology, dramatically improves picture quality with crisper colors and sharper contrast.

Samsung Connect Home Pro – The industry’s first Smart Wi-Fi System to combine mesh networking technology with a SmartThings Hub, Samsung Connect Home Pro opens up new possibilities for users to better connect their devices and easily manage their home networks. It delivers the ultimate, optimized Wi-Fi signal for the home while giving users the power to manage their smart home devices all from a single, secure network.

Samsung Chef Collection (4 Honoree Awards)  – Merging elegant design and industry-leading technology, Samsung’s new Chef Collection line brings Samsung’s most innovative and popular home appliance features to the premium built-in category. Chef Collection reflects the aspirations of this new generation of state-of-the-art homeowners who look to the kitchen not just as a room to cook in, but as a sophisticated reflection of who they are. Samsung Chef Collection is honored with four 2018 CES Innovation Honoree Awards for the Chef Collection 30” Pro Range, the Chef Collection 30” Built-In Combi Oven, the Chef Collection 36” Gas Cooktop and the Chef Collection 30” Double Wall Oven.

Samsung 16Gb GDDR6 Memory – The fastest and lowest-power DRAM for next generation, graphics-intensive applications. It processes images and video at 16Gbps with 64GB/s data I/O bandwidth, which is equivalent to transferring approximately 12 full-HD DVDs (5GB equivalent) per second. The new DRAM can operate at 1.35 volts, offering further advantages over today’s graphics memory that uses 1.5V at only 8Gbps.

Samsung 8TB NGSFF NVMe SSD (PM983) – The first 8 terabyte “next-generation form factor” SSD dramatically improves the storage capacity and performance of 1U rack servers (highly popular in consumer electronics). The 64 8TB NGSF SSD can deliver I/O at a phenomenal 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.

Exynos 9 Series 9810 The Exynos 9 Series 9810 is Samsung’s latest flagship processor, with 3rd-generation custom CPU cores, upgraded GPU, and gigabit LTE modem with industry-first 6CA support. It is built on 2nd generation 10nm process technology.

Samsung ISOCELL Slim 2X7 – Samsung ISOCELL Slim 2X7 is a 24 megapixel image sensor with 0.9μm pixels, the smallest pixel in the industry, plus Tetrapixel* and remosaic technology to simulate bigger pixel performance. The small 0.9μm pixel size enables a 24Mp image sensor to be fitted in a thinner camera module, allowing premium smartphones to offer high resolution cameras in a very slim and elegant design.

¹ Compared to Galaxy Note5 S Pen

² GIFs created may not be supported by some social media and messaging services depending on the size and length of the GIFs

* Technological term of “Tetrapixel” was updated in July 2022