[Peace&Chips] "New Market Opens for AI on Mobile Devices"... Expectations for Nand Flash Boom

On-Device AI Accessible on Smartphones
Expansion Expected from Flagship to Entry-Level Models

Increased NAND Capacity... Over 500GB Needed
Samsung Announces New UFS 4.0 Product Launch

"On-Device AI is a very interesting topic. As demands for personalization, enhanced security, high performance, and cost reduction increase, the necessity of On-Device AI is becoming more prominent."

Yoon Ha-ryong, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics Memory Business Division, said this at the recent investor event 'Investors Forum 2023.' Amid the significant changes brought by generative AI like ChatGPT, he highlighted On-Device AI as another AI trend to watch.

On-Device AI refers to AI that runs on the device itself. It is characterized by collecting and processing information independently on the device without network connections such as servers or the cloud. Utilizing On-Device AI allows users to enjoy AI services quickly and customized on personal devices without security concerns.

On-Device AI is expected to be implemented on various devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs in the future. It is anticipated that Samsung Electronics will include related features in several flagship smartphones, including the Galaxy S24 series to be unveiled early next year. The adoption is expected to expand to mid-range and low-end smartphones as well.

Samsung Electronics NAND Flash UFS 4.0 product image for mobile /
[Image source=Captured from Samsung Electronics Semiconductor website]

The semiconductor industry expects that as smartphones equipped with On-Device AI increase, related business opportunities will also grow. As smartphones become smarter with AI, the performance and capacity of semiconductors used in devices inevitably need to be upgraded.

In fact, in the memory sector, the market atmosphere is intensifying with announcements of new types of DRAM products for implementing On-Device AI. NAND flash is also affected by On-Device AI. As more smartphone storage capacity is required, the use of NAND is also increasing.

Seonghoon Yeon, Senior Researcher at market research firm Omdia, said at last week's Omdia Korea Conference, "Next year, with AI functions included in smartphones, there will be growth opportunities in storage," adding, "To operate including AI learning and inference, more than 15% of the total smartphone storage must be used."

Smartphone storage is usually categorized as 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, etc., which corresponds to NAND capacity. Currently, flagship models start from 256GB and mid-range models from 128GB, but as AI functions expand, at least 500GB or more storage may soon be required.

The NAND standard used in mobile devices, called Universal Flash Storage (UFS), is also evolving to keep pace with AI. Samsung Electronics introduced the industry's first UFS 4.0 standard product last year and is soon to launch a new version of UFS 4.0 optimized for AI.

Editor's NoteSemiconductors, known as the rice of modern industry. Although we hear the term every day, it’s often hard to explain. Peace & Chips will make the complex concepts and overall trends of the semiconductor industry easy to digest. Just bring your spoon.