[Peace&Chips] Alien-like DRAM Terms... What Are They?

Growing Market Expectations for High-Value DDR5 DRAM
DDR DRAM Advances Since 2020 Standardization
Low-Power LPDDR Expands Applications

Editor's NoteSemiconductors, often called the rice of modern industry. Although it's a term we hear every day, it's hard to explain when asked. Peace & Chips will make the complex concepts and overall industry trends of semiconductors easy to digest for you. Just bring your spoon.

[Peace&Chips] Alien-like DRAM Terms... What Are They?

The first week of October has begun. Thanks to the Chuseok holiday this week, many people probably welcomed Monday at a relaxed pace. However, after the holiday, the semiconductor industry is expected to become busy as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are about to announce their Q3 earnings.

The industry expects both companies' earnings to improve compared to the previous quarter. Although a full recovery in the semiconductor market has not yet begun, making a significant earnings rebound unlikely, the situation is seen as better than in the first half of the year. There are also forecasts that memory semiconductor prices will rise in Q4, potentially boosting earnings further.

In particular, for DRAM, it is said that the demand for high value-added products is increasing due to the effect of artificial intelligence (AI), which could help improve earnings. A term that always comes up in relation to DRAM is "Double Data Rate (DDR)." DDR is the current standard technology for DRAM, and among the recently mentioned high value-added products is DDR5 DRAM.

DDR5 is a standard set by the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association in 2020 as the latest DRAM standard. Since DDR DRAM was established as a standard in 2000, the DRAM specifications have evolved through DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, and now DDR5. DDR5 DRAM is said to be over 30% more profitable compared to the previous generation DDR4 DRAM.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have been continuously developing products around the time DDR5 standards were finalized, gradually expanding the market. Market research firm Omdia predicts that next year, the share of DDR5 DRAM in the overall DRAM market (27%) will surpass that of DDR4 DRAM (19%) for the first time. By 2026, the DDR5 share is expected to grow to 48%.

"Low Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR)" is another key term to watch in the DRAM field. LPDDR DRAM is a mobile DRAM where the "Low Power (LP)" prefix is the core feature. Since mobile devices are battery-powered, these products focus on minimizing power consumption to suit limited power capacity.

SK Hynix introduced 'LPDDR5T' last January / Photo by SK Hynix

The latest product is LPDDR5X, the 7th generation LPDDR product. Over time, LPDDR has advanced by adding '1-2-3-4-4X-5-5X' after the name. Earlier this year, SK Hynix released LPDDR5T, an enhanced version of LPDDR5X, as an application product before the next generation LPDDR6 comes out.

Recently, as the entire industry focuses on reducing power consumption, the use of LPDDR is increasing. It is no longer limited to devices like smartphones and tablet PCs but is expanding to applications such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers.

In fact, Samsung Electronics introduced last week the "Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module (LPCAMM)," a package module combining multiple LPDDR5X chips. This innovative product is expected to overcome the limitations of DRAM previously used in PCs and laptops and could be used in data centers in the future.

Samsung Electronics' DRAM module 'LPCAMM' introduced for the first time in the industry /
[Photo by Samsung Electronics]

Another type of DRAM is "Graphics Double Data Rate (GDDR)" DRAM. Since it is installed in graphics cards to enhance gaming and video processing performance, it is commonly called graphics DRAM. Because it is used with Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), it is sometimes classified as AI memory.

GDDR DRAM has also evolved through several generations starting from the first. Currently, Samsung Electronics succeeded in developing GDDR7 in July. Major DRAM players SK Hynix and US-based Micron are also expected to launch GDDR7 soon.