SK Hynix is entering the data sensor compatibility verification process for its 10nm-class, 5th generation DDR5, and upon successful completion, it is expected to be able to supply DRAM products with both high performance and excellent power-to-performance ratio to global customers.

SK Hynix announced on the 30th that it has completed the development of the 10nm-class 5th generation (1b) technology, the finest among existing DRAMs, and has provided Intel with server DDR5 using this technology, and has entered the verification process for the 'Intel Data Center Certified memory program'.

This program officially certifies the compatibility of memory products used in Intel's server platform, the Intel® Xeon® Scalable platform.

The DDR5 product provided to Intel this time has an operating speed of 6.4 Gbps (6.4 gigabits per second), and SK Hynix's technical team has achieved the highest speed among the DDR5 products currently available on the market. This represents a 33% increase in data processing speed compared to early DDR5 prototypes.

Additionally, the company applied the 'HKMG (High-K Metal Gate)' process to this 1b DDR5, reducing power consumption by more than 20% compared to 1a DDR5.

SK Hynix emphasized, “Through the development of 1b technology, we will be able to supply DRAM products with both high performance and excellent power-to-performance ratio to global customers.”

Power-to-performance ratio is a relative indicator that calculates the amount of data per second that can be processed per unit of power.

SK Hynix Vice President Kim Jong-hwan (in charge of DRAM development) said, “Prior to this product, we were the first in the industry to receive certification for applying the 10nm-class 4th generation (1a) DDR5 server DRAM to the 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors in January. “We believe that this 1b DDR5 product verification will also be completed successfully,” he said.

Additionally, “With the outlook that the memory market situation will improve starting in the second half of this year, we will accelerate the improvement of our performance in the second half of the year based on our industry-leading DRAM competitiveness, including 1b mass production,” the company said. “In the first half of next year, we will expand the application of our cutting-edge 1b process to LPDDR5T and HBM3E*.”

“Intel is working closely with the memory industry to validate DDR5 compatibility with Intel platforms,” said Dimitrios Ziakas, vice president of Memory I/O Technologies at Intel. “SK Hynix’s 1b DDR5 will be utilized in Intel’s next-generation Xeon Scalable platform and is undergoing industry-first validation through Intel’s Data Center Memory Certification Program to support this.”

Meanwhile, SK Hynix announced that it is also undergoing additional certification procedures to ensure that 1a DDR5, which has completed Intel compatibility verification, can be applied to Intel's next-generation Xeon Scalable platform.