Samsung and SK Accelerate 'CXL Super-Gap'... Expanding AI and Other Portfolios (Comprehensive)

Samsung Electronics Showcased Various Products Including World's First Developed SW Solution and Semantic SSD Last Year

SK Hynix Also Chasing CXL, Released DDR5 DRAM-Based Samples to Secure Customers and Revenue Through Versatility

Samsung Electronics booth at the 'Flash Memory Summit 2022' held on the 2nd (local time) at the Santa Clara Convention Center in the United States. (Photo by Samsung Electronics)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are accelerating their 'super-gap management' in the next-generation interface Compute Express Link (CXL) memory semiconductors. 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 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 including 'CXL Software Solution,' 'CXL 512GB DRAM,' and 'CXL Memory Semantic SSD (Solid State Drive)' to the market.

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 CPUs, GPUs, accelerators, and memory of various IT devices, to secure customers and profitability.

The industry consensus is that the acceleration of 'CXL management' by Samsung and SK over the past year is significant in terms of maximizing memory semiconductor efficiency. Considering the intense competition to improve memory semiconductor efficiency in the global IT market so far, Samsung and SK appear to be taking the lead. According to the industry, until the end of last year before integration, there was a competition for memory efficiency between the CXL Consortium and the GEN-Z Consortium. The CXL Consortium was classified as Intel-affiliated, while the GEN-Z Consortium was non-Intel affiliated. Both organizations were formed by global companies to enhance performance aspects such as memory semiconductor capacity and processing speed.

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. Notably, SK Hynix has been actively participating since the early days of the CXL Consortium's establishment.

Narrowing the CXL technology competition to the product side 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 a 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 fields. It not only increased capacity but also expanded its applications to areas that utilize a large amount of 'small-sized' data.

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 leveraging 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 customers is expected to accelerate," adding, "New demand for the CXL interface will arise, and the supply and demand for server DRAM for data centers are expected to remain at a favorable level."

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