Samsung has started production of its second generation HBM2 named Aquabolt. The new High Bandwidth Memory is the first to deliver 2.4 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) data transfer speed per pin. This chips are aimed at the supercomputing and the graphics card market. According to Samsung this chips are more than 9 times faster than GDDR5 chips.


Compared to the first generation of HBM2 chip, the upcoming Aquabolt can deliver 50% improvement. According to Samsung, with four HBM2 Aquabolt packages in a system you can hit 1.2 terabytes-per-second (TBps) bandwidth. For the greater speeds achieved, Samsung has changed the TSV design and the inter-layer layout. Now a single 8GB HBM2 package consists of eight HBM2 dies that are vertically interconnected using over 5'000 TSVs (Through Silicon Via's) per die.

Furthermore the company has increased the number of thermal bumps between the dies providing greater thermal control. In addition Samsung has improved the physical strength of each HBM2 chip stack by adding an additional protective layer at the bottom.

Samsung didn't say when it would be supplying the new memory to partners. Since the company started the mass production we hope to see the upcoming chips sooner than later.




Source: Samsung