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MagyarSK hynix begins shipping LPDDR5T memory for smartphones
Back in August, SK hynix managed to grab the speed king crown from Samsung by unveiling the LPDDR5T mobile DRAM chips. According to their maker, these high-end components can hit speeds of up to 9.6 Gbps, which makes them about 13 percent faster than the previous record holders, namely Samsung's LPDDR5X chips with up to 8.5 Gbps. Two days ago, the company announced that shipments of the new memory are in full swing, but there's a twist to this story as well.
According to MediaTek's Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless Communications Business Unit JC Hsu, "MediaTek’s next-generation flagship Dimensity chipset is the world's first to be validated at LPDDR5T operating speeds up to 9.6Gbps, enabling upcoming devices to unleash an unprecedented level of mobile performance."
While Hsu's statement quoted above was made in August, Vivo's recently announced X100 and X100 Pro handsets both use the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 processor, so it is very likely that, at least for the first part of 2024, these will remain the only mobile chipsets to support LPDDR5T memory. In the press release issued earlier this week, SK hynix does not even mention Qualcomm Snapdragon chips or other processors by MediaTek.
For now, there are rumors that Samsung will support LPDDR5T in the Exynos 2500, but there is no such a thing in the recently unveiled Exynos 2400. In the coming weeks, more manufacturers should announce their first Dimensity 9300/LPDDR5T smartphones and, hopefully, tablets as well.
Buy the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (256 GB, US Version, Phantom Black) on Amazon
Source(s)
SK hynix (see the press release below)
SK hynix Commercializes World’s Fastest Mobile DRAM LPDDR5T
November 13, 2023
News Highlights
- Starts supplying 16 GB mobile DRAM package to global smartphone makers
- LPDDR5T to be adopted in the latest smartphones along with MediaTek Dimensity 9300 mobile processor
- “Company to continue developing high-performance DRAM products to bring ‘On-Device AI’ technology to smartphones”
Seoul, November 13, 2023
SK hynix Inc. (or “the company”, www.skhynix.com) announced today that it has started supplying its customers with 16 gigabyte (GB) packages of Low Power Double Data Rate 5 Turbo (LPDDR5T)1, the fastest mobile DRAM available today that can transfer 9.6 gigabits per second (Gbps).
1LPDDR: Low power DRAM for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, which aims to minimize power consumption and features low voltage operation. The latest specifications are for the 7th generation, succeeding the series that end with 1, 2, 3, 4, 4X, 5 and 5X. LPDDR5T is a newly developed version by SK hynix, and an upgraded product of the 7th generation (5X), prior to the development of the 8th generation LPDDR6.
Since the successful development of its LPDDR5T in January, SK hynix has been preparing to commercialize the product by conducting performance verification with global mobile application processor (AP)2 manufacturers.
2Mobile AP: A semiconductor chip that serves as the ‘brain’ of mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. It is also the central processing unit in a system-on-chip (SoC) format that contains a complete set of products and systems, including computation, graphics, digital signal processing, etc., in a single chip.
SK hynix explained that LPDDR5T is the optimal memory to maximize the performance of smartphones, with the highest speed ever achieved. The company also emphasized that it would continue to expand the application range of this product and lead the generation shift in the mobile DRAM sector.
The LPDDR5T 16 GB package operates in the ultra-low voltage range of 1.01 to 1.12V set by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), and can process 77 GB of data per second, which is equivalent to transferring 15 full high-definition (FHD) movies in one second.
The company recently started shipping its product to a global smartphone manufacturer, Vivo, which also announced that its latest smartphones, X100 and X100 Pro, will be equipped with SK hynix’s up-to-date memory packages.
These devices will also be packed with MediaTek’s newest flagship mobile AP ‘Dimensity 9300’. In August, SK hynix confirmed that it has completed the performance verification for application with MediaTek’s next-generation mobile APs.
“Smartphones are becoming essential devices for implementing On-Device AI3 technology as the AI era kicks into full swing,” said Myoungsoo Park, Vice President and Head of DRAM Marketing at SK hynix. “There is a growing demand for high-performing, high-capacity mobile DRAMs in the market.”
3On-Device AI: Artificial intelligence technology that implements AI capabilities on the device itself, instead of going through computation in a physically separated server. AI functions can become more responsive and provide more customized AI services as smart devices are capable of collecting and computing information on its own.
“We will continue to lead the premium DRAM market based on our technological leadership in AI memories, while staying in tune with market demands,” Park added.
About SK hynix Inc.
SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world’s top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”), flash memory chips (“NAND flash”) and CMOS Image Sensors (“CIS”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com, news.skhynix.com.
