Samsung has announced a new generation of DDR5 RAM (opens in new tab), touted as the world's first "12nm class". According to Samsung, compatibility evaluation with the AMD Ryzen 7000 series (open in new tab) platform has already been completed and the chip is ready to be installed on AM5 motherboards.

The new 12nm-class DRAM is said to support speeds of up to 7.2Gbps, for an overall system bandwidth of 60GB/s. Samsung also claims that this new memory chip will have the industry's highest data density. [This technological leap was made possible by the use of new High-K materials that increase cell capacitance and proprietary design techniques that improve critical circuit characteristics. Combined with advanced multilayer extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, this new DRAM achieves the industry's highest die density and a 20% increase in wafer productivity," said the Samsung release (opens in new tab).

Power consumption has also been reduced by 23% compared to Samsung's existing state-of-the-art DDR5. The new DDR5 maintains the same 16 Gb per chip capacity.

Of course, in all of this, it is worth noting an important qualifier, namely the use of the word "class." Like the process technologies used by Intel and TSMC for CPUs and GPUs, the term "12nm" does not actually correspond to the physical size of the elements in a memory chip. Rather, it is a relative term that positions the new memory within Samsung's product stack.

Incidentally, other memory manufacturers, including SK Hynix and Micron, claim 10nm-class DDR5 chips. Samsung, however, claims that this new DDR5 is the densest to date. Marketing figures?

In any case, what we can expect is that this "12nm" will bring DDR5 prices down even further. The chips should be smaller and cheaper to manufacture. Therefore, Samsung has stated that "our 12nm range of DRAMs will be an important enabler for DDR5 DRAM market-wide adoption."

The company has also stated that "the 12nm range of DRAMs will be an important enabler for DDR5 DRAM market-wide adoption.

There is no absolute imminence as to when exactly this market-wide penetration will occur. Mass production is set to begin in 2023, so it will be at least three months before we see memory DIMMs with the new chips.

DDR5 prices have dropped considerably since Intel's Alder Lake became the first CPU to use the new standard late last year. However, prices still hover at twice the price of DDR4. Expect prices to continue to drop for this new 12nm Samsung kit, no matter how big the bits inside.