Samsung and RedHat Join Hands Together For Cutting Edge Memory Solutions

In May 2021, at the Hot Chips semiconductor annual conference(a leading platform for the semiconductor industry), Samsung’s memory division presented a poster/slides on a project it was currently working with. The company detailed a 512 GB module of DDR5 memory, running at DDR5-7200, designed for server and enterprise use. In the end, Samsung stated that its first 512 GB module should be ready for mass production by the end of 2021.

Samsung’s Breakthrough:

This year in 2022 May, Samsung revealed that it had developed the memory module with integrated with DDR(double data rate) supporting CXL(Computer Express Link), accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads in data centers.

Samsung’s Collaboration with Red hat :

In recent news, Samsung announced that it had started a joint program with Red Hat, Inc., an American IBM subsidiary software company that provides open-source software products to enterprises. The two will work on the memory and storage solution with the current Samsung CLX interface with the DDR5 module from Samsung with various servers and enterprises.

Current and Future Plans:

Samsung has already started working with Intel, Montage Technology, and Lenevo & AMD to test its module. This CLX-based module works faster to scale data to TB levels, reduces latency, and is energy efficient. Also, Samsung will launch the Samsung memory research cloud (SMRC) for customers and its partners to test out the CXL hardware innovation. Samsung has incorporated several controller and software technologies like memory mapping, interface converting, and error management, which will allow CPUs or GPUs to recognize the CXL-based memory and utilize it as the main memory.

Samsung also plans to launch an updated version of its open-source Scalable Memory Development Kit (SMDKThis Toolkit will allow CXL memory expander to work seamlessly in unknown/different/varying systems — enabling system developers to incorporate CXL memory into various IT systems running AI, big data, and cloud applications, without having to modify existing application environments.

What to Expect :

Samsung’s 512GB DDR5 memory module is exciting, but it’s aimed at the data center and server market. Consumer DDR5 memory will likely top out at 64GB, assuming Samsung

can pull out with Intel, AMD, the supported hardware for the consumer market, and DDR5 hit 64GB. Even ordinary people can have up to 256GB of memory, which is only for servers or enterprises early. But they are going to be on the heavier side of the pocket.
Samsung openly collaborates with many global data centers, servers, and chipset vendors.NVMe SSDs, CXL memory, computational memory/storage (HBM-PIM, Smart SSDs), and fabrics are many of the fields of collaboration for this joint venture. This could create an ecosystem for integrated memory hardware and software.

Samsung has signed a memorandum of understanding like ‘Zoned Storage’ with the U.S. Western Digital in March. Also to note, recently, Samsung announced a $356 billion investment pledge for the chip, bio, and IT sector over the next five years, of which 80 percent will go to facility and R&D investment. This seems to impact the IT industry’s future.

Here is what company representatives had to say:

“In the upcoming data-centric era, the integration of memory-centric hardware and software architectures will become increasingly essential. For this purpose, Red Hat is happy to participate in the joint undertaking with Samsung.”
-Market Andriesse, Senior Vice President and Head of Red Hat Asia Pacific.

“Samsung and Red Hat will make a concerted effort to define and standardize memory software solutions that embrace evolving server and memory hardware while building a more robust memory ecosystem, and We will invite partners from across the IT industry to join us in expanding the software-hardware memory ecosystem to create greater customer value.”

Yongcheol Bae, Executive Vice President and Head of the Memory Application Engineering Team at Samsung Electronics.

“Samsung will continue to collaborate across the industry to develop and standardize CXL memory solutions while fostering an increasingly solid ecosystem.”
Cheolmin Park, Vice President of Memory Global Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics, and Director of the CXL Consortium.