PC and mobile memory to be combined into one
It is time to discuss memory for AI

UFS, which was previously used only in high-end mobile devices, will gradually replace eMMC in mobile devices and expand to other applications.

Officials from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Huawei, Micron, MediaTek, Synopsys, and others who participated in the 'Mobile & IoT Forum 2017' held at the El Tower in Yangjae on the 28th, hosted by the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA) and JEDEC, predicted that the direction of next-generation mobile memory technology would be UFS.

UFS is a NAND flash memory solution developed for mobile devices that is evaluated as having high efficiency, with read speeds about three times faster than eMMC 5.0 (embedded multimedia card) currently used in most smartphones and power consumption at half the level.

Zhao Huifang, a senior researcher at Huawei’s Memory Business Unit who served as the first keynote speaker, said, “The UFS 3.0 standard will be released in 2019,” adding, “Although UFS, which has been used since 2013, has not become popularized quickly, we will now use only UFS instead of eMMC.”
He also stated, “The future direction of memory will see PCs and mobile devices merged,” but added, “It is unknown who will be the winner between NVMe and UFS used in PCs.”

Shim Bo-il, a principal researcher at Samsung Electronics’ Memory Business Division, stated, “Memory growth is leading the transition to an intelligent era encompassing deep learning, automotive, IoT, computer vision, and VR,” and predicted that “computing will become memory-centric.”

He added, “Memory requirements and solutions vary depending on the case. We need to start thinking now about how to use existing products and memory in AI devices.”

UFS combines the advantages of both SSDs and eMMC. Not only is it high-speed and low-power, but it is also built on a proven architecture, making it advantageous in terms of cost structure. Furthermore, it demonstrates superior performance in terms of speed and power stability compared to existing legacy cards.

In various applications such as smartphones, drones, automotive, and VR
It will spread rapidly because the ecosystem for using UFS cards is already in place.
Lee Seok-hun, Senior Manager at Samsung Electronics

Lee Seok-hun, a senior engineer at Samsung Electronics' Memory Business Division, stated, "With the emergence of high-resolution media, we have no choice but to move toward UFS. The transfer speed of UFS is more than 400 times faster than existing legacy cards. It also consumes 0.8 times less power." "While legacy cards started in camera applications, UFS started in mobile, making it advantageous for keeping up with power trends," he said. "It can ensure stability through a stable key structure and the ability to handle I/O errors."

He stated that UFS cards will spread rapidly because an ecosystem for their use in applications across various environments, such as smartphones, drones, laptops, automotive, and VR, is already in place, adding, "Sample products are ready for this year. We expect to be able to showcase them in products as early as next year."

LG Electronics introduced its self-developed LPDDR4X DRAM. It delivers high performance with lower power consumption compared to existing LPDDR4, with the data input/output (I/O) operating voltage lowered from 1.1V to 0.6V and the operating speed increased to 4266Mbps. Manufactured using a 10nm FinFET process, this product is scheduled to be used in upcoming smartphones, the V30 and G7.

The afternoon session focused intensively on UFS, with standardization experts from global semiconductor companies such as Micron, Synopsys, and Cadence presenting memory technology trends and various analyses.

Nam Ki-man, Executive Vice President of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, stated, “As the demand for mobile memory semiconductors rapidly expands into new future industries such as autonomous vehicles, IoT, VR, and drones, a new market paradigm is being created.” He added, “In line with our status as a semiconductor powerhouse, we will continue our efforts to lead next-generation memory semiconductor standards to strengthen differentiated competitiveness and create sustainable future growth opportunities.”