If 2015 was all about OLED, and 2016-17 about quantum-dot (QLED), Samsung will herald the MicroLED display panel era in 2018, with its first implementation, a massive 150-inch television, which will be showcased at the 2018 International CES. A MicroLED panel uses solid-state LED elements etched onto a silicon-substrate, that are less than 100 µm in size, each, which act as individual pixels. If you're familiar with microscopic transistors that make up modern semiconductor chips, imagine if LEDs were built on that scale. That's MicroLED.

With further development, MicroLED panels will achieve higher pixel densities, and won't suffer form "burn-in" problems that OLED (organic LED) panels suffer from displaying the same image over extended periods of time. It also offers significantly lower power-draw compared to OLED. The 150-inch MicroLED TV prototype Samsung is showing off at CES will come with 4K Ultra HD resolution. Samsung's next implementation of the MicroLED tech could be smartphone display panels. The company's main rival in this area, Apple, is already working with TSMC to develop MicroLED panels of its own.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to announce new ultra-low latency additions to the Trident Z RGB series memory kits, starting from DDR4-4000MHz CL17-17-17-37 up to DDR4-4266MHz CL17-18-18-38 32GB (4x8GB). This is the first time in tech history that DDR4 memory kits above DDR4-4000MHz speed is available at the low CL17 timing, and with lower timings, memory kits can utilize high frequency to its fullest potential with improved memory performance. To achieve the ultra-low latency of CL17, these new memory kits are made with rigorously hand-binned, high-performance Samsung B-die DDR4 IC components.

As the leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory, G.SKILL is always improving and reaching higher levels of performance than ever before. The fastest selection from the new Trident Z RGB lineup is available at DDR4-4266MHz CL17-18-18-38 32GB (4x8GB) at 1.45V. The following screenshot shows this new memory kit running on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO motherboard with the Intel Core i7-8700K processor.

As big data usage is becoming ubiquitous, and workload data-sets increase in both size and complexity, new ways of connecting processing resources to storage are being developed. Intel and Micron's partnership in developing 3D XPoint memory came as a way for computer systems to reduce their bottlenecks in storing data for processing, with a particular emphasis on reducing latency. Samsung, however, has enough resources to try and provide alternatives for the emergent market needs, and being one of the most important players in the NAND industry, it seems the company is betting on the Z-NAND wagon.

For now, Z-NAND as it is being developed by Samsung, is expected to be a new rendition of SLC (Single-Level Cell) NAND, with increased controller tweaks and improvements to achieve greater IOPS in both random and sequential workloads. SLC has already been widely used in the SSD market, though in recent years it has been giving way to density-oriented technologies, such as MLC and, more recently, TLC NAND, in an effort to lower the $/GB equation. Z-NAND is a return to the SLC roots, with some very relevant tricks up its sleeve - while 3D XPoint's call to fame was sometimes up to 10x lower latency (in the order of 10/10μs), Z-NAND is also bringing latency to levels hitherto unknown to NAND memory - specifically, to the 12-20/16μs realms.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to announce the never-seen-before 32GB (4x8GB) Trident Z memory kit at an extremely blistering DDR4-4400MHz CL19-19-19-39. This new DDR4 Trident Z dual-channel memory kit upgrades the four-DIMM configuration to the next level as the world's fastest 32GB (4x8GB) memory kit in the world. These extremely high-speed desktop modules are manufactured with rigorously tested and binned ultra-performance Samsung B-die DDR4 ICs.

After the launch of the 8th Gen Intel Core processors and Z370 chipset motherboards, G.SKILL has been constantly pushing DDR4 speeds faster than ever before to higher levels with various capacity configurations. With the availability of the ASUS OptiMem technology, which complements the T-Toplogy layout that uses equalized trace lengths, four-DIMM memory configuration has improved stability and memory overclocking performance. G.SKILL Trident Z memory once again achieves the world's fastest 32GB memory kit at the ultra-high DDR4-4400MHz speed, with an exceptionally aggressive timing of CL19-19-19-39 in 32GB (4x8GB) at 1.5V. Below is the screenshot of the memory kit being stress tested and demonstrating its stability on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI AC) motherboard with the Intel Core i7-8700K processor.

Samsung managed to snag 36 CES 2018 Design and Innovation awards, and the company took to a press release to acknowledge the honors, and shed some light on some of its upcoming products and technologies. Of particular interest to us enthusiasts is the presence of GDDR6 memory, which Samsung says is "(...) The fastest and lowest-power DRAM for next generation, graphics-intensive applications." this new memory is expected to process images and video at 16 Gbps with 64GB/s data I/O bandwidth, which is capable of up to 5 GB/s speeds. Additionally, Samsung said the new DRAM can operate at 1.35 V, offering increased power efficiency over today's graphics memory (which typically requires 1.5 V).

Samsung also announced a NGSFF (Next-Generation Form-Factor) SSD solution, which "dramatically improves the storage capacity and performance of 1U rack servers," which allows for I/O speeds at 0.5 petabytes per second. Measuring only 30.5mm x 110mm x 4.38mm, the drive also improves space utilization and scaling options in hyper-scale datacenter servers.

Samsung Electronics today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017. Samsung's revenue for the quarter was KRW 62.05 trillion, an increase of KRW 14.23 trillion YoY, while operating profit for the quarter posted a record KRW 14.53 trillion, an increase of KRW 9.33 trillion YoY.

In the third quarter, strong demand for high-performance memory chipsets for servers and flagship mobile devices was a contributing factor to the company's overall robust performance. The Semiconductor Business registered significant earnings growth both YoY and QoQ, and the System LSI added to the earnings rally through increased sales of DDIs and image sensors. The display panel segment posted an earnings decline despite the expanded sales of flexible OLED panels for premium smartphones. The Mobile Business saw strong shipments thanks to the launch of Galaxy Note 8 and solid sales of the new Galaxy J series, but its earnings declined QoQ due to the higher sales proportion of mass-market smartphones.

HP Inc., the world leader in printing, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.'s printer business in a deal valued at $1.05 billion.

A3 represents HP's largest growth opportunity in business printing. The combination with Samsung expands HP's portfolio, accelerates its ability to disrupt the $55B A3 copier segment with superior multifunction printing technology, and strengthens its leading A4 laser printing business. Samsung also brings compelling intellectual property of more than 6,500 print patents and a world-class workforce of nearly 1,300 researchers and engineers with expertise in laser technology, imaging electronics and supplies and accessories.

Samsung Electronics, one of the largest manufacturers of DRAM and NAND flash memory, is poised to increase its production of DRAM. The company is bolstered by expansion of two of its DRAM manufacturing plants, located in Hwasung and Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The company is re-purposing a portion of its 2D NAND flash line at its Hwasung plant to produce DRAM. The new production line will begin its output from Q1-2018. The Pyeongtaek plant has been seeing similar activity where DRAM manufacturing clean-rooms are being built on the plant's second floor.

It's only in the second half of 2018 when end-users could expect Samsung's increased DRAM output to have any effect on prices of PC memory. The PC industry is not the only consumer of DRAM, as a larger share of it is consumed by the mobile industry (smartphones, tablets). DRAM inventories have been under tremendous strain over the past three quarters, which have forced PC memory prices to surge by 80-100 percent and beyond.

The hardware world is full of rumors. For example, there was one floating around speculating that Samsung would drop the Pro / EVO naming scheme for their new SSDs. Well, the Samsung 850's product page recently went live on the company's Chinese site, and the Pro / EVO suffix is no where to be seen. So, it looks like the rumor was true after all.

The Samsung 850 120 GB, which carries the model number MZ-7LN120, is the only model listed at the moment. According to the specifications table, the drive sports Samsung's MGX Controller, V-NAND 3 bit MLC flash memory, and 256 MB of LPDDR3 DRAM. In terms of performance, the Samsung 850 is capable of delivering sequential read and write transfer speeds of 540 MB/s and 520 MB/s, with random read and write IOPS that top out at 88,000 IOPS and 70,000 IOPS respectively.

Last week, we were introduced to Samsung's upcoming PM981 SSDs, which should give way to higher-performance parts such as the 980 series. Today, however, it's the slightly lower-tier PM971 platform that has surfaced, which should give way to Samsung 970 series of NVMe SSDs. Remember that the company seems to be moving away from their "EVO" and "PRO" monikers as performance differentiators, and this new nomenclature series should replace it come launch time.

The PM971-based SSDs will feature a 22mm x 16mm x 1.5mm multi-chip package that includes Samsung's Proton controller, LPDDR4 DRAM cache, and V-NAND flash into a single chip. As was to be expected from a more mainstream solution, performance will be noticeably lower (at least in pure numbers) when compared to the higher-tier 980 series.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to announce the release of a new high performance DDR4 Ripjaws SO-DIMM series for small-form factor (SFF) platforms, at DDR4-3800 MHz CL18-18-18-38 32 GB (4x 8 GB) at 1.35V, making this the world's fastest SO-DIMM memory kit. In addition, 3 new specifications will be added to the Ripjaws DDR4 SO-DIMM family, including DDR4-3600 MHz CL16-16-16-36 32 GB (4x 8 GB), DDR4-3200 MHz CL16-16-16-36 32 GB (4x 8 GB), and DDR4-3200 MHz CL16-16-16-36 64 GB (4x 16 GB). Such extremely high speed on SO-DIMM modules are achieved with the use of the ultra-high performance Samsung B-die DDR4 ICs.

At Computex 2017 in June, G.SKILL demonstrated high-speed Ripjaws SO-DIMM series at DDR4-3466 MHz, and we are now once again raising the speed of the fastest SO-DIMM memory kit to the intense mind-bending speed of DDR4-3800 MHz. Validated on the latest ASRock X299E-ITX/ac motherboard and the Intel Core i9-7900X X-series Processor, extreme memory performance is now a reality with small-form factor workstations.

DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, has come forward with the expected announcement that DRAM output in 2018 likely won't be enough to fully satisfy supply. This has been the case for some time now. However, what started with simple insufficient output that could contain the explosion of DRAM capacity in smartphones seems to now be turning into a conscious decision by the three top memory manufacturers. Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix are seemingly setting output at a lower than required level so as to artificially inflate pricing due to low supply. TrendForce themselves say so, in that these suppliers "(...) have opted to slow down their capacity expansions and technology migrations so that they can keep next year's prices at the same high level as during this year's second half. Doing so will also help them to sustain a strong profit margin."

DRAM production is expected to increase by 19,6% in 2018; however, this ratio is lower than the expected growth in demand, which is being pegged at 20,6%. This means 2018 is likely to see increased constraint in the supply channels (whereas 2018 was actually expected to see a slight relief in supply issues). This means that pricing will either stabilize or tend to increase from current levels. To be fair, semiconductor production isn't as simple as hitting a "increase production by 10x" button; reports say that all three players are contending with insufficient room to expand output on their production lines, and getting a new production facility online isn't a trivial effort - neither in funds, nor on time. However... All involved companies would much rather keep prices as they are than see them being brought down by oversupply.

Samsung Electronics announced today that their 8 nm FinFET process technology, 8LPP (Low Power Plus), has been qualified and is ready for production. Samsung's newest process node provides up to 10-percent lower power consumption with up to 10-percent area reduction from 10LPP through a narrower metal pitch. 8LPP is expected to provide benefits for applications including mobile, cryptocurrency and network/server. Samsung expects this 8 nm node to be the last feasible one with current fabrication technology - shown by the fact it's actually employing much of the same design and production processes and philosophy as the 10 nm node. Samsung is counting on EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) technology to enable 7 nm and smaller process nodes.

"With the qualification completed three months ahead of schedule, we have commenced 8LPP production," said Ryan Lee, Vice President of Foundry Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung Foundry continues to expand its process portfolio in order to provide distinct competitive advantages and excellent manufacturability based on what our customers and the market require." Details of the recent update to Samsung's foundry roadmap, including 8LPP availability and 7nm EUV development, will be presented at the Samsung Foundry Forum Europe on October 18, 2017, in Munich, Germany.

The Samsung 850 EVO SSD has been in the market for almost three years now. In what seems to be an eternity in tech years the 850 EVO SSD, sporting the 3D NAND flash memory, has held its own in the consumer space. Back when it was released, the 850 EVO SSD heralded a new generation of price and performance combination that established it in the high end enthusiast market. With sequential read speeds of up to 550 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 520 MB/s, 4 KB Random Read of up to 100,000 IOPS and 4KB Random Write of up to 90,000 IOPS, the 850 EVO solidified and marked a new era of SSD computing.

But now it looks like the 860 EVO will take over where the 850 EVO left off. The 860 EVO SSD has been spotted in the database of the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) in the integrators listing as having passed interoperability. The 860 comes in variants of 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB SATA III in a 2.5-inch 7 mm form factor with support for Native Command Queuing (NCQ), ASR, SSP, IPMh, 3 Gb/s and 6 Gb/s transfer speeds. The 250GB drive is labeled under MZ7LH250**** with the following, 500****, 1T0****, 2T0**** marked respectively. No announcement has been made by Samsung.

Samsung is the most well-regarded company when it comes to consumer SSDs. even if their SSD solutions do usually carry a premium versus the competition, that price delta is usually well justified: Samsung's SSDs are frequently the most reliable, fastest option in the market. Samsung's 960 PRO and 960 EVO SSDs have done a good job of clarifying the company's market positioning, and now, the successors for those Samsung SSDs have already surfaced.

The next-gen Samsung NVMe drives carry the PM981 code-name - where "PM" stands for TLC NAND (in this case, based on 64-layer 3-bit per cell V-NAND chips), "9" stands for Samsung's highest performing solutions, and "81" stands for the part number - two tiers ahead of Samsung's 960 series. It's expected that there will be a 970 part, since Samsung seems to be steering away from the "EVO" and "PRO" monikers to differentiate products according to performance - a straight numeral is expected to be the norm going forward. For now, the parts that have surfaced carry 512 GB and 1 TB of memory. These will make use of Samsung's Polaris V2 controller (with a metal heatsink over it to aid in cooling), and deliver 3,000 MB/s and 3,200 MB/s sequential read speeds (for the 512 GB and 1 TB versions respectively) and 1,800 MB/s and 2,400 MB/s sequential write, respectively. The models surfaced from a Vietnamese retailer, which has them going for $233 and $439 - which doesn't mean this will be the final consumer retail price, but seems reasonable for the technology and performance tier of these NVMe SSD solutions.

In addition to slashing the price of Oculus Rift HMD Set down to USD $399, Oculus VR announced a new standalone VR headset for the masses, the Oculus Go, which at USD $199, is significantly cheaper than the Oculus Rift, while not being that much costlier than the $129 Samsung Gear VR. Oculus Go lacks the fully-tracked motion sensors or inside-out tracking of the Oculus Rift, which helps keep its price down. It retains the essentials, including a 2560 x 1440 pixels display resolution, new lenses, and 3D spatial audio built into the headset. Oculus VR plans to put Go in the hands of developers by November 2017, with mass-production expected to begin shortly after, and retail availability some time in 2018.

When AMD launched its Ryzen Threadripper HEDT platform, they forgot one crucial feature - NVMe RAID support. They realized their fault and promised a BIOS and driver update on September 25 that would allow users to boot from a NVMe RAID. Der8auer, overclocker extraordinaire, got first dibs on the BIOS update and uploaded a Youtube video to show us the performance numbers from a RAID array of eight NVMe SSDs. Unfortunately, he took down the video, but not before HardOCP could grab some screenshots of his feat.

As we can see from the screenshots, Der8auer created his RAID array on an ASUS X399 motherboard. Since the UEFI interface has ROG markings all over it, he probably used a ROG Zenith Extreme. With the help of two ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 cards, Der8auer was able to install his eight Samsung 960 PRO/EVO SSDs. Although we cannot distinguish the model clearly, the performance is simply spectacular. IOmeter measured a transfer speed of 28375.84 MB/s.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it is introducing the industry's first embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) solution for use in next-generation automotive applications. Consisting of 128-gigabyte (GB) and 64GB versions, the new eUFS solution has been designed for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), next-generation dashboards and infotainment systems that provide comprehensive connected features for drivers and passengers worldwide.

"We are taking a major step in accelerating the introduction of next-generation ADAS and automotive infotainment systems by offering the industry's first eUFS solution for the market much earlier than expected," said Jinman Han, senior vice president of Memory Product Planning & Application Engineering at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung is taking the lead in the growth of the memory market for sophisticated automotive applications, while continuing to deliver leading-edge UFS solutions with higher performance, density and reliability."

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced it has added 11-nanometer (nm) FinFET process technology (11LPP, Low Power Plus) to its advanced foundry process portfolio, offering customers with an even wider range of options for their next-generation products. Through further scaling from the earlier 14LPP process, 11LPP delivers up to 15 percent higher performance and up to 10 percent chip area reduction with the same power consumption.

In addition to the 10nm FinFET process for mobile processors in premium flagship smartphones, the company expects its 11nm process to bring differentiated value to mid- to high-end smartphones. The new process technology is scheduled to be ready for production in the first half of 2018. Samsung also confirmed that development of 7LPP with EUV (extreme ultra violet) lithography technology is on schedule, targeting its initial production in the second half of 2018.

Since 2014, Samsung has processed close to 200,000 wafers with EUV lithography technology and, building on its experience, has recently seen visible results in process development such as achieving 80 percent yield for 256 megabit (Mb) SRAM (static random-access memory).

DigiTimes is reporting, through "sources from the upstream supply chain", that AMD's current shortage of RX Vega cards to distribute to the retail market will continue at least until October. The tech reporting site says that sources are pointing towards the package integration of HBM2 memory (from SK Hynix or Samsung Electronics) and the Vega GPU (manufactured on Global Foundries' 14 nm FinFet) as being at fault here, due to low yield rates for this packaging effort. However, some other sources point towards the issue being with the packaging process itself, done by Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) through use of SiP technology. Whichever one of these cases may be, it seems the problem lies with AMD's choice to use HBM2 on their Vega graphics architecture.

As a footnote to its story, DigiTimes is also reporting that according to industry sources, NVIDIA has, in light of RX Vega's performance, decided to postpone the launch of Volta-based GPUs towards the first quarter of 2018.

The DRAM industry is experiencing an acute shortage of various classes of GDDR memory (graphics DDR), which could affect graphics card prices come Holiday. Supplier quotes for various graphics memory components have risen by as much as 30.8% in August, from an average of USD $6.50 in July, to $8.50. Top graphics memory suppliers Samsung and SK Hynix have committed a bulk of their inventories to manufacturers of servers and mobile handsets, which triggered the price rally. Samsung is the largest supplier of graphics memory, with a 55 percent market-share, followed by SK Hynix at 35 percent, and Micron Technology at 10 percent.

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced the introduction of the Samsung Portable SSD T5 - the newest portable solid state drive (PSSD) that raises the bar for the performance of external memory products. The T5, built with Samsung's latest 64-layer V-NAND technology, delivers industry-leading transfer speeds with encrypted data security in a compact and durable design, making it easier than ever for consumers to access their most valuable data anywhere, at any time.

"Samsung has been pushing the envelope of what is possible in portable storage and solid state drives for years, and the Portable SSD T5 continues our legacy of leadership and innovation," said Un-Soo Kim, Senior Vice President of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics. "We are confident that the T5 will exceed consumers' expectations for external storage by offering faster speeds and a solid design that is lightweight and conveniently pocket-sized. It is the ideal portable storage product for consumers and professionals who are in search of a fast, durable and secure device."

At its Flash Memory Summit booth, Samsung revealed plans to launch new consumer-segment SSDs which succeed its current 960 EVO and 960 Pro series. Over 2017-18, the company is expected to launch the new 970 series and 980 series NVMe SSDs. Tom's Hardware predicts that Samsung could dispose of the "EVO" and "Pro" brand extensions to a static model number (such as 960 or 950). Samsung could tap into its current 3-bit per cell (TLC) 64-layer 3D V-NAND flash memory for the 970 and 980 series. With the company busy capacity-building for 4-bit per cell (QLC), the new SSD lines may not feature it, although Samsung is capable of surprising with aggressive launch cycles. As drives supporting the NVMe protocol, the 970 and 980 series could ship in modern form-factors, such as M.2 and U.2.

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, has announced new V-NAND (Vertical NAND) memory solutions and technology that will address the pressing requirements of next-generation data processing and storage systems. With the rapid increase of data-intensive applications across many industries using artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, the role of flash memory has become extremely critical in accelerating the speed at which information can be extracted for real-time analysis.

At the inaugural Samsung Tech Day and this year's Flash Memory Summit, Samsung is showcasing solutions to address next-generation data processing challenges centered around the company's latest V-NAND technology and an array of solid state drives (SSDs). These solutions will be at the forefront of enabling today's most data-intensive tasks such as high-performance computing, machine learning, real-time analytics and parallel computing.

Dutch company ASML may not be very known to us mortal users, but it has one of the greatest aces up its sleeve: it specializes in what are some of the most complex machines currently made by mankind. Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Systems (EUV) are the kind of machines that make you look in wonder and amazement at man's ingenuity - ASML, which specializes in this type of systems, has a production capability for 2017 that numbers just 12 of these. That means on average, they take a whole month putting one of these together. That really goes to show the complexity inherent to these systems. And it shows: EUV machines are about the size of a city bus, and typically cost more than 100 million euros ($115.3 million) each.

The revenue growth forecast is spurred by an additional 8 EUV systems being ordered by ASML's clients, which include Intel, Samsung, and TSMC - some of the biggest players in the semiconductor business. The new orders brought the company's order backlog to 27 machines - more than double their current annual output. ASML is taking steps to to ensure an increase in production capability to keep up with the multi million-dollar demand: the company is set to expand its system production capability to 24 in 2018, before reaching an expected capacity of around 40 systems in 2019. Third-quarter revenue will be about 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion), the Veldhoven, Netherlands-based maker of chip-making machines predicts. The company's stock valuation has increased some 30% over the past year - the company's valuation currently stands at around €53 billion ($61 billion.)