[2026 Future Business Forum] "In the Era of Space Data Centers... The Key Is High-Reliability, Low-Power Memory"

Yoo Minsu, Vice President of SK hynix

Unveils “Memory Strategy for the Era of Space Data Centers”

"Even in the new era of space data centers, memory will always remain at the core."

Yoo Minsu, Vice President of SK hynix, revealed strategies for next-generation memory technologies tailored for space environments at the "2026 Asia Future Enterprise Forum" held on May 13 at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul. He stated, "With the explosive increase in space data, space data centers are emerging as a key solution to supplement terrestrial infrastructure."

Recently, space data has been surging due to the expansion of Earth observation satellites and low-Earth orbit communication networks such as Starlink. However, as data transmission to Earth faces physical bandwidth limits and latency bottlenecks, the need for "space computing"—processing data directly in space—has become increasingly apparent.

Vice President Yoo predicted, "Space data centers will not simply replace terrestrial infrastructure, but rather play a complementary role by strengthening the connection between Earth and space, optimizing data movement, and expanding overall artificial intelligence (AI) computing capabilities." He also projected that with current rocket launch technologies, if weekly launches continue, it would be possible in five years to secure up to 0.8GW of power, enabling the construction of space infrastructure equivalent to the ultra-large terrestrial data centers (1GW) on Earth.

However, memory systems operating in space require a fundamentally different level of technology compared to those on Earth. This is because the harsh space environment is rife with cosmic radiation that not only causes transient errors like "bit flips," but can also lead to permanent component failures.

To address this, Vice President Yoo outlined three essential requirements for space memory. First, since component replacement or maintenance is impossible in space and a single chip failure could result in permanent system loss, "absolute reliability" is mandatory. Second, "high performance" is needed for real-time AI inference. Third, "ultra-low power" technology is crucial to overcome the reliance on solar panels for power.

Vice President Yoo presented the "Space RAS" architecture as the core strategy to overcome these challenges. RAS is a technology that minimizes system errors (Reliability), maintains operation even in the event of failures (Availability), and enables rapid repair (Serviceability). He explained that by combining enhanced RAS technologies with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, errors caused by cosmic radiation can be effectively controlled in space applications.

For maximizing power efficiency, "Processing-In-Memory (PIM)" and "custom high-bandwidth memory (HBM)" technologies were highlighted. Vice President Yoo explained that by applying PIM—executing AI operations directly inside memory—the computation speed can be improved by about 10 times and power efficiency by about 7 times compared to conventional HBM.

He concluded, "At the center of the AI computing revolution that is expanding from Earth to space, ever-evolving memory technology will always be present," expressing SK hynix's ambition to lay the technological foundation for the era of space data centers.