Samsung and SK Bet on Memory Semiconductor 'CXL Super-Gap' Strategy

Next-Generation Memory Semiconductor Interface

Samsung Electronics, World's First Development Last Year
Introducing Various Products in the Market Including SW Solutions and Semantic SSDs

SK Hynix Also Chasing CXL
Releases DDR5 DRAM-Based Samples
Securing Customers and Revenue by Enhancing Versatility

Samsung Electronics unveiled the Compute Express Link (CXL)-based 'Memory Semantic SSD (Solid State Drive)' on the 3rd. (Photo by Samsung Electronics)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are accelerating their "super-gap management" in the Compute Express Link (CXL) memory semiconductor, which is regarded as the next-generation interface. This interface, equipped with terabyte (TB)-level capacity acquisition capability and data processing speed, is expected to generate demand from various industry stakeholders such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), prompting expedited new product development.

According to the industry on the 4th, Samsung Electronics developed the world's first CXL-based DRAM memory technology called "CXL Memory Expander" in May last year, intensifying the technological competition in this field. It became a hot topic as news spread that TB-level capacity could be secured simply by equipping the CXL interface made by Samsung without replacing servers. Since then, Samsung has developed and introduced a range of products and solutions to the market, including "CXL Software Solution," "CXL 512GB DRAM," and "CXL Memory Semantic SSD (Solid State Drive)."

SK Hynix is also in pursuit. On the 1st, it entered the "CXL super-gap" competition by releasing a DDR5 (Double Data Rate 5) DRAM-based CXL memory sample. The plan is to leverage the "versatility" of CXL, which is used in central processing units (CPU), graphics processing units (GPU), accelerators, and memory of various information technology (IT) devices, to secure customers and profitability.

Industry consensus holds that the acceleration of "CXL management" by Samsung and SK over the past year is significant in terms of maximizing memory semiconductor efficiency. According to the industry, a competition for memory efficiency took place between the CXL Consortium and the GEN-Z Consortium until their integration at the end of last year. After the integration into the CXL Consortium at the end of last year, CXL emerged as the industry's sole standard, with Samsung and SK taking the lead. Currently, the CXL Consortium includes major semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Intel, Micron, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, as well as big tech companies like Google and Microsoft.

Narrowing the CXL technology competition to the product aspect reveals a "Samsung leading - SK chasing" pattern. On May 11 last year, Samsung developed the world's first CXL DRAM semiconductor, opening the "TB-level DRAM era," and exactly one year later, on May 10, it launched the "512GB CXL DRAM," reducing data latency to one-fifth, marking the most distinct milestone. Samsung took a further step forward by announcing the "CXL Memory Semantic SSD" solution at the Flash Memory Summit (FMS) in the United States the day before. This product improves response speed by 20 times compared to existing SSDs in AI, ML, and other applications.

SK Hynix is expanding the CXL technology domain focusing more on "solutions" than products. By releasing a DDR5 DRAM-based CXL memory sample scheduled for mass production in the first half of next year, it hinted, "We plan to launch various bandwidth and capacity expansion memory solution products based on CXL." It intends to increase solution distribution by utilizing CXL's characteristic of being widely used in IT devices such as AI, metaverse, future cars, IoT, 5G, and 6G.

Do Hyunwoo, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, "With the next-generation memory interconnect standard being settled as (CXL), the adoption speed by (client companies) is expected to accelerate," adding, "New demand for (the CXL interface) will arise, and the supply and demand for server DRAM for data centers is expected to remain at a favorable level."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.