Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first 12-gigabyte (GB) low-power double data rate 4X (LPDDR4X) UFS-based multichip package (uMCP). The announcement was made as part of the company’s annual Samsung Tech Day at its Device Solutions’ America headquarters in San Jose, California.

“Leveraging our leading-edge 24-gigabit (Gb) LPDDR4X chips, we can offer the highest mobile DRAM capacity of 12GB not only for high-end smartphones but also for mid-range devices,” said Sewon Chun, executive vice president of Memory Marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung will continue to support our smartphone-manufacturing customers with on-time development of next-generation mobile memory solutions, bringing enhanced smartphone experiences to many more users around the globe.”

Samsung is introducing its 12GB uMCP solution just seven months after its launch of a 12GB LPDDRX package based on 16Gb DRAM. By combining four of the 24Gb LPDDR4X chips (featuring the latest 1y-nanometer process technology) and ultra-fast eUFS 3.0 NAND storage into a single package, the new mobile memory is able to break through the current 8GB package limit and provide 10+ GB memory to the broader smartphone market.*

As the trend toward larger, higher-resolution smartphone displays continues to grow, more users will benefit from Samsung’s uMCP solution when running data-intensive tasks or multitasking. With 1.5X capacity of the previous 8GB package and a data transfer rate of 4,266 megabits per second (Mbps), the 12GB uMCP can support smooth 4K video recording as well as accommodate AI and machine learning features even for mid-end smartphones.

Samsung plans to rapidly expand the availability of 10+ GB LPDDR DRAM to address the increasing needs of global smartphone makers for higher-capacity memory solutions, while reinforcing its competitive edge in the memory marketplace.

^* Editors’ Note:

12GB LPDDR4X uMCP: four 24Gb (3GB) chips + eUFS 3.0

10GB LPDDR4X uMCP: two 24Gb (3GB) chips + two 16Gb (2GB) chips + eUFS 3.0

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, showcased advanced memory and system logic devices at its Tech Day 2019 event. Fueling the future of tech for 5G, AI, cloud, edge, IoT, and autonomous vehicles, Samsung highlighted new processor and memory device capabilities. The company unveiled the Exynos 990 premium mobile processor, the 5G-enabled Exynos Modem 5123 and announced mass production of its third generation 10nm-class 1z-nm DRAM.

“Samsung is focused on harnessing the most advanced semiconductor technologies to power innovation across key markets,” said JS Choi, president, Samsung Semiconductor. “From System LSI devices that are perfectly adapted for real-world 5G and AI, to advanced solid-state drives (SSDs) that handle mission-critical tasks and offload CPU workload, we are determined to deliver infrastructure capabilities that are built to enable every wave of innovation.”

New technology announcements include:

• Exynos 990 and 5G Exynos Modem 5123: Delivers unprecedented AI-powered user experiences on-device with a dual-core neural processing unit (NPU) and enhanced digital signal processor (DSP) that can perform over ten-trillion operations per second. The Exynos 990 and 5G Exynos Modem 5123 harness the most advanced chipmaking technologies to-date with a 7-nanometer (nm) process using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.

• Third-generation 10nm-class (1z-nm) DRAM: Delivers the industry’s highest performance, energy efficiency and capacity, since mass production in September. Optimized for premium server platform development, the 1z-nm DRAM will open the door to a lineup of memory solutions at the cutting-edge such as DDR5, LPDDR5, HBM2E and GDDR6 products as early as the beginning of next year.

• 12GB LPDDR4X uMCP (UFS-based multichip package): Combines four 24Gb LPDDR4X chips and an ultra-fast eUFS 3.0 NAND storage into a single package, breaking through the current 8GB package limit in mid-range smartphones and bringing more than 10GB of memory to the broader smartphone market.

Samsung also proposed new business possibilities for next-generation memory technologies, including the company’s 7th-generation V-NAND with nearly 200 (1yy) cell layers for mobile and other premium memory solutions, and next-generation PCIe Gen5 SSDs for future server and storage applications.

Samsung’s third annual Tech Day hosted Silicon Valley’s leading companies, featured customer collaborations on GPU, PCIe Gen4 and HBM2e technologies, an industry-leading customer panel, and a demo pavilion showcasing the future of home automation, data centers, mobile/5G, and automotive technology.

“The proliferation of technological advances in 5G, edge computing and AI is changing the world at an exponential pace.  The impact of AI will be everywhere, from new avenues for communication and unprecedented connections. AI’s impact will be seen everywhere. Self-driving cars will take to our roads and homes and businesses will become truly connected,” said Choi. “To enable such innovations, technology infrastructure must lead the way. Samsung is committed to being at the heart of all this innovation — and it will be fascinating to see what the world can do.”

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced at its Samsung Tech Day 2019 two silicon products specifically tailored for future mobile devices that will make intensive use of video and artificial intelligence (AI) applications as well as 5G communications.

Both the Exynos 990 premium mobile processor and ultra-fast next-generation 5G Exynos Modem 5123 harness the most advanced 7-nanometer (nm) process technology using extreme ultra-violet (EUV) to provide unprecedented performance and accelerated product development options for mobile manufacturers.

“Milestones in technological advancements are imminent all around us. Mobile 5G technology is opening new avenues for communication and connection, while AI is poised to become an everyday tool for people worldwide,” noted Inyup Kang, president of System LSI Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s Exynos 990 and Exynos Modem 5123 are perfectly adapted for high-volume 5G and AI applications, and are designed to help the world’s most ambitious enterprises, large and small, achieve their goals of bringing new capabilities to their markets .”

New levels of mobile gaming and other graphics-intensive operations are enabled by the Exynos 990’s inclusion of an embedded Arm Mali-G77 GPU, the first premium GPU based on the new Valhall architecture, which improves graphic performance or power efficiency by up to 20 percent. This comes in addition to an overall 20-percent performance boost from an extremely powerful and flexible tri-cluster CPU structure that consists of two powerful custom cores, two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores.

The Exynos 990 also makes on-device AI practical and useful, with a top-class dual-core neural processing unit (NPU) and improved digital signal processor (DSP) that can perform over ten-trillion operations (TOPs) per second.

The NPU enables localized AI in a smartphone or other mobile platform, allowing data to be processed on-device, rather than going through a network and a server, for added efficiency and security. This can also help enhance AI features such as facial recognition and scene detection for richer mobile experiences.

Next-generation mobile connectivity needs are addressed by the 5G Exynos Modem 5123, one of the first 5G modem chips manufactured using a 7nm EUV process. It supports virtually all networks, from 5G’s sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrums to 2G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, HSPA and 4G LTE, with outstanding downlink speed across the board.  In 5G, with up to 8-carrier aggregation (8CA), the modem delivers a maximum downlink speed of up to 5.1-gigabits per second (Gbps) in sub-6-gigahertz (GHz) and 7.35Gbps in mmWave, or up to 3.0Gbps in 4G networks by supporting higher-order 1024 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM).

The Exynos 990 complements these modem speeds with a very wide memory bandwidth that supports LPDDR5 data rates of up to 5,500 megabits per second (Mb/s). The processor also features a 120Hz refresh-rate display driver, which makes games come alive by reducing screen tearing and enabling smoother animations even on devices with multiple displays, such as foldable phones. Also on board is an advanced image signal processor (ISP) that supports up to six individual image sensors with concurrent processing of three; this enables pro-grade photography, with resolution up to 108-megapixels.

The Exynos 990 and Exynos Modem 5123 are expected to begin mass production by the end of this year.

For more information about Samsung’s Exynos products, please visit http://www.samsung.com/exynos