Micron Shipping LPDDR5 DRAM
by Billy Tallis on February 6, 2020 8:30 AM EST
Micron has announced their first LPDDR5 DRAM is in mass production and now shipping to customers. The new RAM is significantly faster and more power efficient than LPDDR4x. One of the first products to use the new LPDDR5 will be the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphone.
Micron's LPDDR5 is available in 6GB, 8GB and 12GB packages, with speeds of 5.5Gbps and 6.4Gbps per pin. The faster speed grade is a 50% improvement over their fastest LPDDR4x products (4266Mbps per pin), and Micron also claims better than 20% reduction in power use compared to LPDDR4x. Micron will also soon be offering multi-chip packages pairing LPDDR5 with UFS-based flash storage; these products will be available sometime during the first half of the year.
The most visible applications for LPDDR5 will be this year's crop of flagship smartphones, but Micron is also targeting automotive and networking applications with the obligatory references to 5G and AI driving demand for faster memory.
Related Reading:
- Micron’s DRAM Update: More Capacity, Four More 10nm-Class Nodes, EUV, 64 GB DIMMs
- Samsung Starts Production of LPDDR5-5500 Devices: 12 GB of DRAM in a Smartphone
- Samsung Announces First LPDDR5 DRAM Chip, Targets 6.4Gbps Data Rates & 30% Reduced Power
- Samsung Starts Production of 16 Gb LPDDR4X Chips Using 2nd Gen 10nm Tech
- Micron Kicks Off Mass Production of 12 Gb LPDDR4X DRAM Chips
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Targon - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Isn't LPDDR the stuff they put in phones/tablets? it's a different form factor than what is used for laptop/desktop computers. I have a hope that AMD is already working with Samsung/Hynix/Corsair to coordinate a release of consumer DDR5 memory modules for when AMD launches the AM5 socket with DDR5 memory support. RAM before a platform wouldn't sell, and a platform without RAM won't sell, so both sides need to launch at around the same time.When AMD wasn't seen as a major player, AMD wouldn't be seen as a company to drive a major shift to a new type of memory, but at this point, AMD is dominating the DIY market, so a new generation of processors with DDR5 support with a new socket would probably work. Since it would start with AMD as well, the memory makers wouldn't feel quite as stressed about making 50,000,000 modules available at launch as well(since the OEM computer makers are still getting paid not to offer as many AMD options as Intel options, or to sabotage the AMD based solutions by putting only a single memory module in the machine to go single-channel mode for RAM). So, it could work well.
I don't anticipate Intel really pushing the shift to DDR5 since Intel chips don't benefit nearly as much from higher memory speeds compared to AMD. DDR5 with Zen3(or Zen4) would give at least a 10% performance boost due to the switch from a two channel memory controller to a 4 or even 8 channel memory controller(each DDR5 memory module supports two memory channels, so 4 sticks would allow for 8 channels if supported).
phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
LPDDR4/LPDDR4X is common in laptops, tablets, phones, and other mobile devices. Intel has supported it for quite awhile now.AMD Ryzen Mobile 3000 was limited to DDR4 (no support for LPDDR4) which is why their power usage was higher, and throughput lower, than Intel-based laptops. AMD Ryzen Mobile 4000 supports LPDDR4.
Santoval - Friday, February 7, 2020 - link
No, LPDDR memory is used in everything up to laptops.crimson117 - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Don't forget the 1TB 5400RPM HDD!Samus - Friday, February 7, 2020 - link
At least that'll be upgradable! It's ridiculous a lot of these machines like the HP Elitebook's and Dell XPS's have soldered down RAM but an M.2 slot for an NVMe drive, when conventionally we had it the other way around for so long (looking at you Apple)Cliff34 - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
There is no cpu AMD or Intel that takes DDR5 right now, right?PeachNCream - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Correct. And Micron's own announcement does not really tie LPDDR5 to PC products either. The focus is more on automotive tech and mobile handsets.https://www.micron.com/about/blog/2020/february/ne...
lmcd - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Just a reminder, LP-series DDR versions don't necessarily have that much to do with same-numbered standard DDR series.DDRxL tends to be a low-voltage version of a given DDR version, which is quite different.
Frenetic Pony - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Correct! Though I think Intel's upcoming Tiger Lake might.Techtree101 - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
A pre-emptive question... given what we know about LPDDR5, would it likely be worth waiting for DDR5 (or LP) in a laptop instead of just DDR4, all other components being equal and assuming a game heavy use-case.