Samsung has started mass production of 20nm DDR3

Also opens a new fab for 20nm NAND flash

Many companies have started sampling 2nm DDR3 memory, but Samsung is first out of the door with actual mass production of the memory based on a 20nm process.

The first chip out of the fab is a 2Gb chip, but Samsung (SEO:005930) plans to announce a 4Gb chip buy the end of this year. The latter chip will allow Samsung to start manufacturing of memory modules with capacities of 4 gigabyte (GB), 8GB, 16GB and 32GB next year.

“The global semiconductor industry is in a period of fierce cyclical volatility, so the opening of this new memory fab and the start of mass production of the world’s first 20nm-class DRAM are important milestones to reinforce Samsung’s industry leadership,” said Samsung Electronics Chairman Kun-hee Lee, in an opening ceremony for the NAND flash fab named Line-16.

Housed in a 12-story building, Line-16 is the industry’s most advanced and largest memory fabrication facility, with a combined workspace of approximately 198,000 square meters, Samsung writes in their press release.

Starting this month, Samsung began mass production of high-performance 20nm-class NAND flash memory chips, with a projected volume of more than 10,000 12-inch wafers monthly.

The new devices from Samsung puts an additional pressure on competitors like Toshiba, SanDisk, Micron, Hynix and Elpida to come up with similar products at similar prices in a world where profit margins are extremely thin.S|A

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