If we talk about memory manufacturers, manufacturers such as Samsung and SK Hynixundisputed leaders in the market that monopolize not only a large part of production, but also sales. SK Hynix takes the lion’s share of the pie, doubling the revenue of Samsung’s semiconductor division. However, just because they are rivals does not mean they cannot collaborate together.
Both companies have been competing for a long time to dominate the high-bandwidth memory market, known by its acronym HBM. According to what they say from Korea, Samsung’s semiconductor division and SK Hynix have reached an agreement to work together on the development of LPDDR6-PIM memories in order to accelerate the standardization of this type of low-consumption memory used mainly for Artificial intelligence. AI market growth estimates for 2030 are expected to reach figures of $173.9 billion.
SK Hynix and Samsung collaborating together on new types of memory
It is not necessary to remember that the consumption of data centersboth those dedicated to Artificial Intelligence training and those that only store data, have some energy consumption very high, so any reduction in consumption, applied on a large scale, represents a significant reduction in the electricity bill.
Companies like Microsoft, Oracle and amazon They are betting on giving a second life to nuclear power plants that have stopped operating or using SMR reactorssmall nuclear fission reactors that can be easily transported, to be able to supply the necessary energy, considerably reducing the cost of electricity.
The collaboration between Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix is still in an initial phase and they are working with JEDEC to determine what the specifications are for this type of memory, since the considerations of LPDDR-PIM are very different from traditional ones.
According to a Samsung representative:
The two companies are exchanging opinions and cooperating for product standardization. Since the cooperation has just begun, we are in the process of establishing implementation plans for the target standardization time frame.
Both companies are aware that PIM technology is their next engine of growth in the coming years and the best way to continue being leaders in the sector is to join forces and work together to reduce deadlines, a movement that It was probably motivated by pressure from the South Korean government.
Samsung offers its HBM and LPDDR5 memory catalog with PIM, while SK Hynix has GDDR6-PIM. Both companies have tried to make their technologies the new standard in the industry without success, so the only way to accelerate this development is to work together to prevent other manufacturers from other countries, such as China, from being able to get ahead and put The lucrative memory business of both companies is at risk.