Samsung aims to expand 7th generation chip for heavy workloads

Seoul, June 8

Samsung Electronics aims to expand the use of its seventh generation V-NAND chip solutions, a senior executive said on Tuesday, as the South Korean tech giant eyes to bolster its technology prowess in the memory sector.

In the second half of the year, the world’s leading memory chipmaker will introduce a new consumer solid state drive (SSD) product based on its seventh generation V-NAND chip that boasts the smallest cell size yet in the industry, according to Song Jai-hyuk, head of Samsung’s flash memory products.

“The company’s solution will be optimised for multitasking huge workloads, such as simultaneous 3D modelling and video editing,” Song said in an editorial posted on the company’s website.

“Samsung is also planning to expand the use of its 7th generation V-NAND to data centre SSDs.” V-NAND refers to Samsung’s NAND flash solution, vertically stacking memory cells in a 3D structure.

Samsung is the first chipmaker to commercialize such a memory solution, having unveiled its first 3D V-NAND in 2013, reports Yonhap news agency.

A NAND flash is a type of non-volatile memory that stores data even if there is no power.

In the NAND industry, more memory cell layers in a chip mean better capacity with enhanced bit density, but as the product’s height gets taller, Song said the company came up with solutions to reduce the cell volume.

Song said Samsung has already secured a working chip of its eighth generation V-NAND solution featuring over 200 layers and plans to introduce the product after analyzing market situations and consumer demand.

Samsung is the world’s largest NAND flash vendor with a 33.5 percent revenue share in the first quarter, according to market researcher TrendForce.

Its NAND business logged US$4.97 billion in the first three months of 2021, up 7 percent from a quarter earlier. — IANS