I used to be excited when Samsung made an announcement about new memory or RAM chips, but now it only makes me anxious.
The company has just announced its latest 3D memory at the annual Future of Memory and Storage show in Santa Clara, and even though the new chips look impressive, it's more bad news for smartphones.
New zHBM memory architecture unveiled (to be used in data centers, sadly)
Samsung announced a new type of HBM memory. | Image by Samsung
At the show, Samsung unveiled a new concept models of memory, called zHBM. This technology is based on HBM (or high bandwidth memory) and uses 3D layers stacked on each other. The bad news is that this memory is primarily used in data centers and AI accelerators, along with a small number of high-end graphics cards.
The zHMB models introduce a new architecture that places the memory above the AI accelerator, rather than alonside it, thus increasing the performance up to eight times. The memory density is also up to 10 times better than HBM5 thanks to a new wafer bonding tech, and the efficiency has been improved threefold, according to Samsing.
Sadly, as you already read in the subheading, this new memory architecture is designed to be used in AI data centers, so the chance to see it in your next PC, GPU, console, or smartphone is rather small.
Would you buy a new smartphone if it were 10% more expensive?
New V-NAND SSD storage
The state-of-the-art zNAND-O memory is aimed at edge AI environments. | Image by Samsung
Samsung also showed a new V-NAND memory to be used in solid state drives for data storage. The new silicon is called V10 BV-NAND and again uses the new bonding tech to offer up to 58 percent more memory density compared to the previous V9 generation.
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This was made possible by stacking over 400 layers of memory cells on top of each other. Along with this model, Samsung unveiled another high-end, next-gen memory prototype. It's called zNAND-O and comes with "high space efficiency, improved I/O performance, and low latency." This one's also aimed at "edge AI environments," so don't expect to see one on the Galaxy S27 Ultra.
New LPDDR memory with processing capabilities
The LPDDR5X-PIM chip can do data processing internally. | Image by Samsung Semiconductors
The last piece of tech Samsung showed at the expo was a new type of LPDDR5X-PIM memory. This is essentially RAM that can also do some processing internally.
Normally, RAM (or random access memory) is used for short-term storage of data, as a buffer between the CPU that does the actual processing and the memory drive that stores the data but it's not fast enough.
The new silicon can do simple data operations inside the memory in addition to just storing it, and this is aimed to improve efficiency, rather than offer more bandwidth or speed. As you might've already guessed, these advanced memory prototypes will most likely find their way to the next big data center, serving the AI overlords.
The global memory crisis deepens
The new tech shown at the FMS expo could only deepen the memory crisis. | Image by Samsung
Samsung is one of the biggest memory suppliers in the world (alongside SK Hynix). The Korean company already has troubles meeting the demand for memory, not only for data centers, but in other fields such as smartphones, PCs, and consoles, as well.
The newly announced chips have strong focus on AI applications and will most likely be backordered by data centers months in advance. This will create even more strain on the smartphone market, raising the prices further and potentially leading to more expensive phones, less sales and stagnation.
That's because Samsung will have to reserve manufacturing power and time for these new chips, further limiting the production capacity for the older chips we still find in our smartphones.
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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