How Samsung is Powering Ahead with New AI Chips

The size of Samsung’s new AI chip is designed to enable great airflow for mobile phones, powering the high-performance applications on AI-enabled devices.

Samsung’s chip in question, LPDDR5X DRAM, is currently the thinnest in the industry at 0.65mm thick. It is designed for high-performance applications, but especially for mobile devices with on-device AI capabilities. The chip being so thin enables better thermal management and more space within mobile devices, which is especially important for advanced AI features.

An announcement at this scale has come at a significant time for the South Korean technology company, as it sees chips being integral to the future of AI.

“At a time when numerous technologies are evolving around AI, the key to its implementation lies in high-performance, low-power semiconductors,” says Dr. Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. 

Continued AI ambition fuels chip race

According to Samsung, the LPDDR5X DRAM offers significant improvements over its predecessors, including a 9% reduction in thickness and a 21.2% improvement in heat resistance. 

Concerning performance, the chip is able to provide data processing speeds of up to 8.5 Gbps, which is 1.25 times faster than the previous generation, the company says. It is also able to offer 25% better power efficiency which makes it suitable for a wide range of applications beyond mobile devices, including PCs, servers and automotive environments.

Whilst tech giants like Nvidia are very much at the helm of the AI chip industry, Samsung is eager to spend time developing AI memory solutions like HBM-PIM (High Bandwidth Memory - Processing-In-Memory) and CXL-PNM (Processing-Near-Memory), which integrate computation functions into memory semiconductors, enhancing AI processing capabilities.

To that end, the company has unveiled a comprehensive strategy to cement its position as a leader in the AI chip market. At the heart of this is Samsung's new AI Solutions platform, which leverages the strengths of its Foundry, Memory, and Advanced Package (AVP) businesses to provide customers with tailored, one-stop solutions for their AI needs. 

In January 2024 at CES, the company unveiled its ‘AI for All’ vision, teaming up with key partners to outline the technology behind this vision and how new products and services use AI capabilities to make life easier.

“With the emergence of artificial intelligence, smarter, better experiences will redefine how we live,” Jong-Hee Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Samsung’s Device eXperience (DX) Division commented. 

“Samsung’s broad portfolio of powerful devices, along with the pursuit of open collaboration, will help bring AI and hyper-connectivity to all.”

Leveraging the latest AI technology

In leveraging these latest capabilities, Samsung is well-positioned to offer tailored solutions that aim to power the AI revolution. A holistic approach to chip and package co-design is exactly what Samsung believes is integral to thriving in the transformative era of AI.

The company is continuing to improve its understanding of market need, as demand for high-performance, low-power mobile memory solutions continues to rise. 

Samsung has committed itself continually to AI in recent years. Its S24 range of smartphones was the first to benefit from the company’s partnership with Google Cloud, with tech companies increasingly using AI to create innovative mobile devices.

In April 2024, it was announced the company had been awarded US$6.4bn by Congress to further expand in Central Texas and create new manufacturing capability. 

This continues to be essential funding as Samsung seeks to bolster their chip capabilities for the automotive, consumer technology, IoT, aerospace and other essential industries.

“The spotlight has recently shifted toward generative AI technology, as it provides us the potential to unlock new solutions and address long-standing challenges,” commented Kye Hyun Kyung, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division. “But the need for in-depth research on the safety, trustworthiness and sustainability of AI is increasing at the same time.”

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