[Peace&Chips] 'Semiconductors Reduce Electricity Costs'... The Rise of 'Universal Chips' in Mobile DRAM

LPDDR DRAM Rising with Mobile Growth
Focus on Overcoming 'Low Power' Challenges in Battery Environments

Mobile DRAM Market Size to Reach $25.5 Billion by 2027
Low Power and High Performance Needed Across All Potential Application Areas

Editor's NoteSemiconductors, known as the rice of modern industry. Although it's a term we hear every day, it's often hard to explain. Peace & Chips will make the complex concepts and overall trends of the semiconductor industry easy to digest for you. Just bring your spoon.

SK Hynix's 24-gigabyte (GB) package product made by combining 12 LPDDR5X chips /
[Photo by SK Hynix]

Last week, semiconductor issues surged as usual. Especially, there were many news items related to memory semiconductors. In the DRAM sector, SK Hynix attracted market attention by announcing achievements in mobile DRAM called 'Low Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR)'. They revealed that they have supplied or completed pre-supply processes (certification) for their latest mobile DRAM products such as LPDDR5X and LPDDR5T to customers.

LPDDR refers to a DRAM standard used in mobile products like smartphones and tablet PCs. DRAM is categorized by application such as PC and servers, and mobile DRAM began to be widely used since the 2000s. Along with the growth of mobile devices, it has rapidly increased its share in the DRAM market.

The key feature of mobile DRAM is its focus on low power consumption. Since mobile devices rely on batteries with limited power, minimizing power consumption is crucial. This is why the mobile DRAM standard adds the prefix LP (Low Power), unlike the PC DRAM standard (DDR) used in desktops and laptops.

Thanks to its characteristics of reducing power consumption while maximizing performance, LPDDR DRAM is gradually increasing its market value. Not only for existing mobile devices but also for the growing number of wearable devices and virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) products, LPDDR DRAM is expected to be widely used. As we enter the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the demand for higher performance in various mobile devices is also expected to increase opportunities for LPDDR-related markets.

Given this situation, market outlooks are positive. Market research firm Omdia forecasts that the share of mobile DRAM shipments in total DRAM will increase from 44% this year to 51% by 2027. They recently revised their previous 2027 forecast of 38% upwards. The mobile DRAM market size is also expected to surge by 106.65%, from $12.34 billion this year to $25.5 billion in 2027.

Park Myung-su, Vice Chairman of SK Hynix, also predicted, "As the pace of technological advancement accelerates across the entire IT industry, the use of LPDDR products will expand beyond mobile devices to PCs, servers, high-performance computing (HPC), and automotive sectors." In each field, the importance of low power and high performance is increasing, leading to new applications for LPDDR DRAM that have never existed before.

Samsung Electronics LPDDR5X product / Photo by Samsung Electronics

The latest standard for mobile DRAM is the 7th generation LPDDR5X. Over time, the technology has advanced with numbers following LPDDR in the order of '1-2-3-4-4X-5-5X'. Samsung Electronics, the market leader in DRAM, has showcased its technological prowess by being the first in the industry to introduce LPDDR5 (2018) and LPDDR5X (2021).

SK Hynix, ranked second, has recently been focusing on related businesses by launching LPDDR5T, an enhanced version of LPDDR5X, ahead of the next generation LPDDR6, in January. Currently, the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association is finalizing the standardization registration for LPDDR5T. As market expectations for LPDDR DRAM grow, competition in the industry is expected to intensify.

This article is from [Peace & Chips], published weekly by Asia Economy. Click subscribe to receive articles for free.

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