According to the Korea Times, Samsung is currently developing the next generation of 3D DRAM in the United States. The next-generation 3D DRAM development lab is located in Silicon Valley and is part of the Device Solutions America division (DSA).
Clearly, the lab's goal is to develop an upgraded DRAM model that will enable Samsung to take a leadership position in the global 3D DRAM market – a story on the matter as reported by The Korea Times.
For those unfamiliar, "3D DRAM" refers to DRAM manufactured using the "3D" process. The goal of the 3D manufacturing process is to make better use of physical hardware constraints by "stacking" chips, memory modules, and more on top of each other. For example, in the CPU space, we have something called "3D caching", which refers to regular CPU L3 caches that are "stacked" during the manufacturing process to increase on-board memory capacity. Of course, Samsung pioneered 3D stacked NAND (Samsung calls it V-NAND) for SSD storage more than a decade ago.
Since the advantages of 3D caching on desktop CPUs have already been demonstrated, Samsung's review of the improvements offered by 3D DRAM seems promising. The Korea Times reported on comments made by Samsung in October 2023 claiming that the new structure of sub-10nm DRAM will allow for a larger single-chip capacity, which can exceed 100 GB.
In short, Samsung's work on 3D DRAM could be a huge boost to memory capacity. 3D stacking in CPU manufacturing to augment L3 cache has proven to be a way to dramatically increase capacity and performance under constrained workloads.
While the need for more DRAM for most modern consumer PCs has been barely affected, Samsung's continued push of the limits should be positive for the computing market as a whole. Server operators and the most high-end enthusiasts will benefit first, but 3D DRAM standardization should help increase high-end RAM capacity and reduce entry-level costs, as is the case with most major advancements in PC hardware.
Time will tell, though, how successful and dominant Samsung's 3D DRAM will become, and how long we will need to wait for these solutions. For now, it's enough to know that Samsung's Silicon Valley lab is working hard to push the next generation of DRAM manufacturing forward.
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