SK hynix, a market leader in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), announced plans to start mass production of its GDDR7 chips in the fourth quarter of 2024. This announcement, made on June 13, sets the stage for a competitive year in the graphics memory market.
Micron also unveiled its GDDR7 graphics memory at Computex, indicating that the chips are currently being sampled. Micron aims to commence mass production this year, potentially allowing customers to ship finished products by year-end. The major applications for these chips span artificial intelligence (AI), gaming, and high-performance computing, according to AnandTech.
Samsung, the first among the Big Three to introduce its GDDR7 products, completed development of a 16-gigabit GDDR7 DRAM in July 2023. This follows their development of the industry’s first 24Gbps GDDR6 DRAM in 2022. Samsung is already sampling its GDDR7 memory with plans for a 2024 launch.
AnandTech reports that SK hynix is preparing to produce both 16Gbit and 24Gbit chips, boasting data transfer rates of up to 40 GT/s. In comparison, Samsung and Micron are expected to start with 16Gbit chips running at 32 GT/s. This higher speed could give SK hynix an edge in attracting customers.
With all three major chipmakers targeting mass production of GDDR7 memory in 2024, the competition is poised to intensify, particularly in the high-performance computing segment. This race to innovate and deliver faster memory solutions highlights the ongoing demand for enhanced computing power in various advanced applications.
