Samsung Electronics is planning to expand supply of ultra-fast HBM2 (High Bandwidth Memory) by taking production to full-scale. Samsung hopes to dominate this market by increasing its mass-production capability faster than its competitors.
The HBM2 memory uses Samsung Electronics’ 3D stacking technology to improve bandwidth, on full-scale. This product will be used for high-performance AI (Artificial Intelligence) processor and network and GPU system such as video cards. AMD used HBM technology for the R9 Fury X. At this time most of the production of HBM memory has been used in professional GPU systems aimed at CAD/CAM, pro video editing, machine learning, and parallel computing. The Tesla V100 uses the memory tech.
Samsung has increased production of 8GB HBM2 packages to meet market demands. The firm hopes to use the newly finished fabrication facilities to ship more than 50% of its HBM2 in the new 8GB capacity stack by the first half of 2018.
Increasing the number of die in the package is tricky business. The press release stated:
Samsung’s 8GB HBM2 delivers the highest level of HBM2 performance, reliability and energy efficiency in the industry, underscoring the company’s commitment to DRAM innovation. Among the HBM2 and TSV (Through Silicon Via) technologies that were utilized for the latest DRAM solution, more than 850 of them have been submitted for patents or already patented.
TSV is the new buzz technology for DRAM and NAND flash memories. Instead of using wire bonding on the side of each die, the signals pass through the silicon. Each HBM2 die contains over 5,000 TSVs and over 40,000 in Samsung’s new HBM2 8GB product, with eight die connected in a manner that reduces power consumption and temperatures while still maintaining high reliability.
