SK hynix is planning to commence mass production of its next-gen GDDR7 memory in Q1 2025, which is slightly behind the competition.
SK hynix’s GDDR7 Memory Chips Are Still In Their Sampling Phase; Micron & Samsung To Take a Lead Here
The first generation of GDDR7 memory modules started to surface this year, with companies like Samsung and Micron announcing plans for mass production by the end of 2024. Back in GTC 2024, we saw Korean firms showcasing their cutting-edge memory chips, which gave us an idea of what to expect in terms of performance and efficiencies. Still, SK hynix seemed to show reluctance with their own GDDR7 showcase up until Computex 2024, where the company disclosed plans for mass production, which is expected to commence by the first quarter of 2025.
For a quick rundown on the capabilities of SK hynix’s GDDR7 chips, the firm previously disclosed that they could achieve up to 40 Gbps pin speeds for up to 160 GB/s bandwidth per module. The GDDR7 standard will have a baseline speed of 32 Gbps, delivering 128 GB/s bandwidth per module, so we are looking at a 25% boost in bandwidth with future variations of GDDR7. Furthermore, the memory will be available in a range of capacities with up to 24 Gb being listed now with the baseline being set at 16 Gb.
With the Korean giant being fairly behind competitors now, it might question the adoption of their GDDR7 standard among potential customers, but it certainly doesn’t hint toward the fact SK hynix’s process is at stake.
For now, mass production of SK hynix’s GDDR7 memory is expected by Q1 2025, which means that the firm is currently in its sampling stages, collaborating with its partners for future integration, and if that goes well, then being a quarter late wouldn’t bother them at all.
GDDR7 memory chips are expected to take the consumer computing segment to a new level since they offer tremendous performance and efficiency gains. With the expected integration of NVIDIA’s RTX 50 “Blackwell” GPUs and AMD’s RDNA 4 SKUs, it’s certainly going to be exciting to witness the utilization of GDDR7 and see what sort of performance we see with it.
