Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) today announced results for its third quarter of fiscal 2021, which ended June 3, 2021. "Micron set multiple market and product revenue records in our third quarter and achieved the largest sequential earnings improvement in our history," said Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. "Our industry-leading 1α DRAM and 176-layer NAND now represent a meaningful portion of our production, and Micron is in the best position ever to capitalize on the long-term demand trends across the data center, intelligent edge and user devices."

Intel today, in its 2021 International Supercomputing Conference presentation, revealed that certain next-generation Xeon "Sapphire Rapids" SKUs come with on-package high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Given the context of its presentation, these could be special SKUs designed for high-density HPC setups, in which the processor package includes certain amount of "PMEM" (package memory), besides the processor's 8-channel DDR5 memory interface.

The size of the HBM PMEM, and its position in the memory hierarchy, were detailed, too. Given its high-density applications, PMEM may not serve as a victim cache for the processor, but rather be capable of serving as main memory, with none of the DDR5 DRAM channels populated with DIMMs. On machines with DIMMs, the PMEM will serve as a victim cache for the processor's on-die last-level cache, accelerating the memory I/O. "The next-generation of Intel Xeon Scalable processors (code-named "Sapphire Rapids) will offer integrated High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), providing a dramatic boost in memory bandwidth and a significant performance improvement for HPC applications that operate memory bandwidth-sensitive workloads. Users can power through workloads using just High Bandwidth Memory or in combination with DDR5," says Intel.

At the end of 2020, TEAMGROUP reached a cooperation agreement with top DRAM wafer manufacturers and started working on DDR5 technology. Since then, TEAMGROUP has dedicated to the research and development of DDR5 modules, collaborating with various major motherboard manufacturers to ensure that each R&D stage undergoes comprehensive testing and to deliver products of the highest quality that the industry has ever seen. TEAMGROUP is leading the industry today as we announce our official launch of the world's first DDR5 memory module for desktops, the TEAMGROUP ELITE U-DIMM DDR5, which is estimated to be available on major EC platforms for consumers worldwide by the end of June and the beginning of July.

The initial launch of TEAMGROUP ELITE DDR5 memory module will support 16GBx2 of capacity at a frequency of 4800 MHz, with a voltage of 1.1 V CL40-40-40-77, which complies with the standard specifications defined by the JEDEC association. Compared to the maximum 3200 MHz standard frequency in the DDR4 generation, the DDR5 is able to increase the speed to up to 50%. The low 1.1 V voltage is also more energy efficient than its previous generation; to ensure minimum noise interference for the memory module, the power management is transferred from the motherboard onto the memory with an additional power management IC (PMIC) for more effective system load control. The most incredible feature of ELITE DDR5 is doubling the 16 banks of DDR4 to those of 32 in DDR5 to improve the IC structure, providing double access availability. An on-die ECC (error correction code) included in the DRAM IC is also available for self-recovery of the DRAM unit, ensuring that DRAM systems with DDR5 can obtain higher levels of stability.

The latest Status of the Memory Industry report from June 2021 published by Yole Developments shows the memory market continues to grow and is expected to exceed 200 billion USD in 2026. The introduction of DDR5 memory will be extremely quick with shipments expected to exceed that of DDR4 in 2023 and will account for over 90% of bits shipped by 2026. The major DRAM manufacturers have all finalized their mainstream DDR5 designs with shipments from several having already started. The report also predicts an increase in the amount of DRAM used in all product categories which will contribute to strong revenue growth for memory manufacturers.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing its latest smartphone memory solution, the LPDDR5 UFS-based multichip package (uMCP). Samsung's uMCP integrates the fastest LPDDR5 DRAM with the latest UFS 3.1 NAND flash, delivering flagship-level performance to a much broader range of smartphone users.

"Samsung's new LPDDR5 uMCP is built upon our rich legacy of memory advancements and packaging know-how, enabling consumers to enjoy uninterrupted streaming, gaming and mixed reality experiences even in lower-tier devices," said Young-soo Sohn, vice president of the Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics. "As 5G-compatible devices become more mainstream, we anticipate that our latest multichip package innovation will accelerate the market transition to 5G and beyond, and help to bring the metaverse into our everyday lives a lot faster."

TrendForce's latest investigations find considerable discrepancy between prices for graphics DRAM products in the contract market and in the spot market. Quotes for graphics DRAM products continue to rise in the contract market as the severe undersupply situation persists. Furthermore, the supply fulfillment rates for orders from some medium- and small-size clients have been hovering around 30%. This undersupply situation is expected to persist through 3Q21, during which graphics DRAM contract prices are expected to rise by 8-13% QoQ. Regarding the spot market, on the other hand, the value of ETH experienced continued uptrend from the start of 2021 until May, thereby driving up the demand for graphics cards, regardless of them belonging to the newer or older series. At the height of the graphics card boom, spot prices of graphics DRAM products were up to 200% higher than contract prices. Demand from miners for graphics cards are expected to be relatively muted before cryptocurrencies return to their previous bullish trends, and the gap between the spot and contract prices of graphics DRAM products will likely narrow in 3Q21 as a result.

Korean DRAM and NAND flash giant, SK Hynix, admitted that a rather big batch of its DRAM wafers is defective and in circulation. The size of this defective batch is rumored to be 240,000 wafers according to a Yonhap report, although the company downplays the scale of the problem citing its monthly production output of 1.8 million wafers.

The company said that it is working with its customers who received these wafers, for recall and replacement. "We're currently talking to a limited number of customers affected by this to address the issue. While it's too early to estimate the potential losses, we don't think they would be that significant as the defect is within the range of typical quality issue check." Besides this, the company is battling rumors surrounding the scale of defective DRAM wafers by the company, in circulation. "The scale of the potential losses mentioned in the rumor is absolutely not true and exaggerated," the company said, in a statement to The Register.

VIPER, a trademarked gaming brand of PATRIOT and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives and flash storage solutions, today is proud to announce the market launch of their VIPER ELITE II DDR4 PERFORMANCE MEMORY. The VIPER ELITE II inherits its successful design from the award-winning ELITE PERFORMANCE MEMORY series and continues to deliver unparalleled stability and overclocking potential to hardware enthusiasts and hardcore gamers. It is customized for the PC builder looking for an RGB-free performance-centric memory solution with a wide range of speeds and capacities.

"The VIPER ELITE II is a sensible upgrade to our popular and award-winning VIPER ELITE series, and with it, we take everything back to the basics and essentials to how an excellent DRAM module should be built. For the VIPER ELITE II, we have focused on speed, capacity, and stability," said Roger Shinmoto, the Vice President of VIPER. "These memory kits offer many options for gamers or content creators who are looking to escalate their system performance to the next level and still maintain a stealthy look inside their PCs."

Micron, the US-based manufacturer of various kinds of memory technologies, has today announced some quite interesting products at its Computex 2021 keynote. For starters, the company has announced a new portfolio of products based on 176-layer NAND. There are currently two products listed that use this new technology and those are the Micron 3400 and 2450 M.2 NVMe SSDs. Based on the PCIe 4.0 interface, the 2450 SSD lineup is designed as a value-oriented solution that comes in M.2-2280, M.2-2242, and M.2-2230 sizes. It ranges from 256 GB to 1 TB in capacities, which are supposed to be priced as a value purchase.

In a contrast, the 3400 SSD is M.2-2280 design, meant for only the highest performance. The sequential read speeds go up to 6600 MB/s, while the sequential writes go up to 5000 MB/s (in the case of the 2 TB model). Capacities range from 512 GB to 2 TB and only the 1 TB and 2 TB variants have the 5000 MB/s write speeds, while the 512 GB version is capped at 3600 MB/s speed. Both SSD models are featuring a heat spreader on top of NAND chips and spot an in-house and Micron-developed NVMe 1.4 SSD controller. However, Micron does note that the company is free to use any 3rd party SSD controller as we are deep in component shortages with high demand for SSDs. You can get an in-depth look at the 2450 and 3400 M.2 SSDs from Micron's website.

Today at its Flash Perspective event, Western Digital Corp. unveiled three new SSDs for its WD_BLACK portfolio of products, providing gamers around the world with fast, high-performance storage solutions to upgrade their PC and next-gen console gaming experience.

"Our WD_BLACK brand delivers a clear and simple promise to gamers - fast and reliable storage that enhances their gameplay," said Rob Soderbery, executive vice president and GM, Flash Business, Western Digital. "With today's new products, the WD_BLACK portfolio has diverse flash-powered solutions so that every gamer - whether they're just starting out or more advanced - can explore the rich worlds of today's most inventive games."

The fifth iteration of DDR technology, called DDR5, is set to arrive later this year. Many makers of DDR4 technology are announcing their plans to switch to the new standard, and CORSAIR is no exception. Known as the maker of high-quality products, CORSAIR has today posted a blog post teasing company's upcoming DDR5 products, and what they will be bringing to the table. For starters, the company has posted data about DDR5 modules that run at 6400 MHz speed, which is assumed to be the speed of the CORSAIR DDR5 modules when they arrive. At such speed, the memory can achieve a bandwidth of 51 GB/s, which is almost double the 26 GB/s that DDR4-3200 MHz memory achieves.

Another point CORSAIR wrote about is the capacity of a single DIMM. With DDR4, the company has made DIMMs that are only up to 32 GB in capacity. However, with DDR5, CORSAIR plans to quadruple that and build a single DDR5 DIMM that has up to 128 GB of memory on it. Another big point was the power required to run the new technology. The DDR4 standard required 1.2 Volts for operation, while the JEDEC specification says that DDR5 needs just 1.1 Volts to run. This will result in a cooler operation of memory modules.

Demand for DRAM exceeded expectations in 1Q21 as the proliferation of WFH and distance education resulted in high demand for notebook computers against market headwinds, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Also contributing to the increased DRAM demand was Chinese smartphone brands' ramp-up of component procurement while these companies, including OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi, attempted to seize additional market shares after Huawei's inclusion on the Entity List. Finally, DRAM demand from server manufacturers also saw a gradual recovery. Taken together, these factors led to higher-than-expected shipments from various DRAM suppliers in 1Q21 despite the frequent shortage of such key components as IC and passive components. On the other hand, DRAM prices also entered an upward trajectory in 1Q21 in accordance with TrendForce's previous forecasts. In light of the increases in both shipments and quotes, all DRAM suppliers posted revenue growths in 1Q21, and overall DRAM revenue for the quarter reached US$19.2 billion, an 8.7% growth QoQ.

Demand for PC, mobile, graphics, and special DRAM remains healthy in 2Q21. Furthermore, after two to three quarters of inventory reduction during which their DRAM demand was relatively sluggish, some server manufacturers have now kicked off a new round of procurement as they expect a persistent increase in DRAM prices. TrendForce therefore forecasts a significant QoQ increase in DRAM ASP in 2Q21. In conjunction with increased bit shipment, this price hike will likely drive total DRAM revenue for 2Q21 to increase by more than 20% QoQ.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today unveiled the industry's first memory module supporting the new Compute Express Link (CXL) interconnect standard. Integrated with Samsung's Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) technology, this CXL-based module will enable server systems to significantly scale memory capacity and bandwidth, accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads in data centers.

The rise of AI and big data has been fueling the trend toward heterogeneous computing, where multiple processors work in parallel to process massive volumes of data. CXL—an open, industry-supported interconnect based on the PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 interface—enables high-speed, low latency communication between the host processor and devices such as accelerators, memory buffers and smart I/O devices, while expanding memory capacity and bandwidth well beyond what is possible today. Samsung has been collaborating with several data center, server and chipset manufacturers to develop next-generation interface technology since the CXL consortium was formed in 2019.

Samsung Electronics is expected to regain the distinction of the top semiconductor supplier for the 2nd quarter of 2021, re-taking the lead from Intel, according to a report by market research firm IC Insights. Samsung's growth rides on the back of a resurgent memory market, as the company supplies both DRAM and NAND flash of various types. This is also helped by the fact that Intel's sales in are expected to remain flat around the same period of time. This would be Samsung's return to the top spot for the first time since 2018, when memory prices crashed, sending down production, in a bid to better allow the channel to digest existing inventory.

SK hynix Inc. today announced financial results for its first quarter 2021 ended on March 31, 2021. The consolidated revenue of the first quarter 2021 was 8.494 trillion won while the operating profit amounted to 1.324 trillion won, and the net income 993 billion won. Operating margin for the quarter was 16% and net margin was 12%.

The Company made better results both QoQ and YoY in the first quarter as the semiconductor market conditions improved earlier this year. Although the first quarter is usually off-season of the semiconductor industry, the Company said that the market conditions improved as demand for memory products for PCs and mobiles increased. In addition, cost competitiveness has increased as yields of major products have improved. Through this, the revenue and the operating profit increased by 7% and 37%, respectively, compared to the previous quarter.

TrendForce's investigations find that DRAM suppliers and major PC OEMs are currently participating in the critical period of negotiating with each other over contract prices for 2Q21. Although these negotiations have yet to be finalized, the ASP of mainstream DDR4 1G*8 2666 Mbps modules has already increased by nearly 25% QoQ as of now, according to data on ongoing transactions. This represents a higher price hike than TrendForce's prior forecast of "nearly 20%". On the other hand, prices are likewise rising across various DRAM product categories in 2Q21, including DDR3/4 specialty DRAM, mobile DRAM, graphics DRAM, and in particular server DRAM, which is highly related to PC DRAM and is therefore also undergoing a higher price hike than previously expected. TrendForce is therefore revising up its forecast of overall DRAM price hike for 2Q21 from 13-18% QoQ to 18-23% QoQ instead. However, the actual increase in prices of various DRAM product categories will depend on the production capacities allocated to the respective products by DRAM suppliers.

GALAX on Facebook announced that it is developing its next generation of DDR5 memory modules targeted at overclockers. The modules are possibly made under the HOF (Hall of Fame) brand, as the announcement comes from the company's OC Lab handle that markets its HOF series products. The announcement also comes with pictures of trays of DDR5 DRAM chips made by Micron Technology. With major DIY gaming/overclocking memory brands announcing development of DDR5 memory products, one wonders where the platforms for these memory modules are. It's rumored that Intel's upcoming 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" processor in the LGA1700 package could feature a DDR5 memory interface. AMD's first client-desktop platform with DDR5 would see the transition to the new AM5 socket.

The Apple M1 processor features integrated memory directly on the chip to reduce latency, power, and size. While this design may be good for the overall user experience it does not bode well for upgradability requiring users to pay up for a more expensive model. Some Chinese engineers have recently shown how it is possible to upgrade the soldered memory and storage components given you have the time, skills, and money. The DRAM and NAND chips are soldered to the M1 chip and motherboard but can be removed and replaced with higher capacity chips using a specialty soldering station. The engineers upgraded the base model M1 Mac Mini with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage to 16 GB RAM and 1 TB storage. The upgrade didn't require firmware modifications according to the source which is very impressive if true.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) today announced results for its second quarter of fiscal 2021, which ended March 4, 2021. "Micron's strong fiscal second quarter performance reflects rapidly improving market conditions and continued solid execution," said Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. "Our technology leadership in both DRAM and NAND places Micron in an excellent position to capitalize on the secular demand driven by AI and 5G, and to deliver new levels of user experience and innovation across the data center and intelligent edge."

Today, we are getting a report coming from the South Korean press, stating that the country of South Korea has just given SK Hynix the green light to start building the mega factory complex. Being in the planning phase for a long time, the new mega factory is going to be located in Yongin, a city set 50 km south of the capital Seoul. The company expects to break ground with construction in Q4 of this year, and finish everything and start volume production of DRAM in 2025. When it comes to the size of the new mega factory, the plant is going to have an area of ​​4.15 million square meters.

The total cost of it will be about $106 billion worth of investment from SK Hynix, making all the recent fab construction plans look tiny compared to this massive investment. The mega factory complex would consist out of four fabs, where their total wafer per month output would be around 800,000. These foundries will be in charge of producing regular DRAM, and next-generation DRAM technologies like we have talked about just a few days ago. It remains to be seen what the company will come out with in the future, however, we are watching its moves closely.

HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc. and brand leader in gaming and esports, today announced that HyperX Predator DDR4 memory was used to set a new overclocking world record for the fastest DDR4 memory frequency at 7156 MHz. The world record for highest frequency was set by the MSI OC Team in Taiwan using a HyperX 4600 MHz Predator DDR4 8G module (part number: HX446C19PB3K2/16) on an MSI MEG Z590I UNIFY motherboard using a 11th Gen Intel Core i9-11900KF @ 3.50 GHz CPU. At the time of this release, the record breaking frequency is posted on HWBOT, the site for PC enthusiasts looking for news, tips and information on overclocking, benchmarks and competitions. The valid CPU-Z screenshot can be found here.

"We are extremely thrilled and humbled to be part of this exemplary DDR4 overclocking achievement," said Kristy Ernt, DRAM business manager, HyperX. "Our engineers work continuously to improve higher-speed memory yields to bring faster solutions by pushing boundaries that break performance records and bring best-in-class products to our gaming memory community."

SMART Modular Technologies, a subsidiary of SMART Global Holdings, Inc., (Nasdaq: SGH), has expanded its support for data center networking applications with the introduction of DuraMemory high-density, very low profile DIMMs and Mini-DIMMs for hyperscale network switching. These products are ideal for maximizing network bandwidth and reliability, which is critical to data center networking requirements.

Network memory dictates the amount of data stored or transferred in switching and routing equipment. Low density as well as poor quality memory can disrupt the performance of a network by acting as a bottleneck to data transfer. The rating and attributes of memory can also greatly affect data center network's overall efficiency.

TEAMGROUP has worked vigorously on the development of next-generation DDR5 memory. After completing validation tests for standard DDR5 U-DIMM and SO-DIMM products with the collaboration of major motherboard manufacturers, TEAMGROUP is announcing an exciting breakthrough today: its T-FORCE brand has successfully created DDR5 overclocking memory. Samples were immediately sent to ASUS, ASRock, MSI, and GIGABYTE for collaborative testing of its overclocking capability. Consumers can expect TEAMGROUP's products to be fully compatible with motherboards from the four major manufacturers when the DDR5 generation arrives.

The DDR5 overclocking memory has greater room for voltage adjustment, due to its upgraded power management IC. This PMIC can support high frequency overclocking with voltage over 2.6 V. In previous generations, voltage conversion was controlled by the motherboard. With DDR5, components were moved to the memory, enabling the module to handle the voltage conversion, which not only reduces voltage wear but also reduces noise generation. This allows significantly increased room for overclocking compared to the past, and more powerful computing processing.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has expanded its DDR5 DRAM memory portfolio with the industry's first 512 GB DDR5 module based on High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology. Delivering more than twice the performance of DDR4 at up to 7,200 megabits per second (Mbps), the new DDR5 will be capable of orchestrating the most extreme compute-hungry, high-bandwidth workloads in supercomputing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), as well as data analytics applications.

"Samsung is the only semiconductor company with logic and memory capabilities and the expertise to incorporate HKMG cutting-edge logic technology into memory product development," said Young-Soo Sohn, Vice President of the DRAM Memory Planning/Enabling Group at Samsung Electronics. "By bringing this type of process innovation to DRAM manufacturing, we are able to offer our customers high-performance, yet energy-efficient memory solutions to power the computers needed for medical research, financial markets, autonomous driving, smart cities and beyond."

On March 22nd, the CEO of SK Hynix, Seok-Hee Lee, gave a keynote speech to the IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS) and shared with experts a part of its plan for the future of SK Hynix products. The CEO took the stage and delivered some conceptual technologies that the company is working on right now. At the center of the show, two distinct products stood out - 3D NAND and DRAM. So far, the company has believed that its 3D NAND scaling was very limited and that it can push up to 500 layers sometime in the future before the limit is reached. However, according to the latest research, SK Hynix will be able to produce 600-layer 3D NAND technology in the distant future.

So far, the company has managed to manufacture and sample 512Gb 176-layer 3D NAND chips, so the 600-layer solutions are still far away. Nonetheless, it is a possibility that we are looking at. Before we reach that layer number, there are various problems needed to be solved so the technology can work. According to SK Hynix, "the company introduced the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology to further improve the cell property of efficiently storing electric charges and exporting them when needed, while developing technology to maintain uniform electric charges over a certain amount through the innovation of dielectric materials. In addition to this, to solve film stress issues, the mechanical stress levels of films is controlled and the cell oxide-nitride (ON) material is being optimized. To deal with the interference phenomenon between cells and charge loss that occur when more cells are stacked at a limited height, SK Hynix developed the isolated-charge trap nitride (isolated-CTN) structure to enhance reliability."