December 25, 2024 /SemiMedia/ — Samsung Electronics will build a 10nm 7th-generation DRAM (1d DRAM) pilot line at its P2 fab in Pyeongtaek to strengthen its competitive position and improve the yield of next-generation products. Construction is set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024, with completion expected in the first quarter of 2025. While the exact production scale of the 1d DRAM line is unclear, industry estimates suggest the pilot line will have a monthly capacity of around 10,000 wafers.

This pilot line is part of Samsung’s strategy to prepare for the mass production of 1c DRAM in 2025, followed by 1d DRAM in 2026. The decision to establish this pilot line while preparing for 1c DRAM mass production reflects Samsung’s aggressive development strategy.

The strategy aims to solidify Samsung's leadership in the memory market in 2025, particularly as it faces increasing competition from SK Hynix in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) segment. To this end, Samsung executives have decided to leverage the company’s substantial workforce and production capacity to accelerate the development of future products.

Industry insiders note that Young-Hyun Jun, the newly appointed head of Samsung’s Device Solutions (DS) division, has a strong technical background that enables him to directly manage Samsung’s memory technologies, including DRAM, and to implement significant reforms within the DS department. Meanwhile, Samsung is also ramping up its investments in NAND flash memory technology.

Recently, Samsung’s Pyeongtaek fab 1 (P1) established the industry’s first 400-layer stacked 3D NAND (V10) test line, while the P4 NAND fab introduced 286-layer stacked (V9) equipment.

Through strategic investments in both DRAM and NAND technologies, Samsung aims to maintain its technological edge in the global memory market and solidify its leadership position amid fierce competition.