Samsung Electronics recently announced that it’s latest AI memory technology can deliver eight-times the performance of its previous generation.
The vendor went on to present its vision on how to address the growing demands for compatible infrastructure.
Unveiled at the Future of Memory and Storage 2026 event in Santa Clara, California, the company showcased the first concept models of zHBM and zNAND-O, which it stated represent the next-generation of 3D memory architectures.
It stated zHBM is designed for advanced AI computing, presenting a new architecture which vertically stacks high bandwidth memory directly above AI accelerators, “moving beyond conventional designs in which HBM is positioned alongside the processor”.
Samsung explained a next-generation interface system incorporating zHBM is expected to deliver an eightfold performance uplift over HBM5.
With next-generation wafer bonding technology, it can deliver more than 10-times the memory density of HBM5 while enhancing energy efficiency threefold and reducing thermal resistance by more than half.
It also apparently supports customer-specific designs, enabling customised IP to be integrated into “the interlayer between the memory and AI accelerator to expand memory capacity and enhance accelerator performance”.
The vendor positioned zNAND-O as a high-performance set-up combining high efficiency and low latency which is optimised for edge AI environments and capable of handling related real-time, data-intensive applications.
Finally, it showed off what it stated is the industry’s first V10 BV-NAND architecture featuring new wafer bonding with more than 400 layers capable of increasing storage density by 60% compared with previous generations.
$1 trillion market
Samsung is battling with the likes of SK Hynix and Micron to secure a leading position in the memory market and lucrative data centre contracts from major AI players.
In Q2, Samsung registered another all-time high in overall earnings, driven by memory sales.
Counterpoint Research estimates global semiconductor memory revenue will hit $1 trillion this year compared with $240 billion in 2025, due to demand from AI data centres and constraints on supply.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: Samsung
