World’s Largest Fabrication Facility, Line-16

Samsung Electronics has begun operations of its new Line-16 memory semiconductor fabrication facility, which will provide the largest production capacity in the industry. In related news, it also announced the start of mass production of the industry’s first double data rate-3 (DDR3) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) based on 20 nanometer (nm) class process technology. This exciting innovation offers significant improvements to productivity while reducing energy consumption.

With the start of production at the new facility, which will constitute a total investment of 12 trillion Korean won (over $10 million U.S.) through completion, Samsung aims to reinforce its leadership in the global memory semiconductor market, while providing the technology and capacity to support the long-term growth of the global IT industry.

Where did all this begin?  Samsung began construction of Line-16 in May 2010 and completed installation of equipment for clean rooms this May. Trial production began in June and the facility was made operational for mass production in August.

Starting this month, Samsung began mass production of high-performance 20nm-class NAND flash memory chips, with a projected volume of more than 10,000 12-inch wafers monthly.

Samsung plans to ramp up production of NAND flash memory to meet market demand, and will begin production of more advanced memory semiconductors with high density and improved performance using 10nm-class process technology next year.

Line-16 provides Samsung the capacity and flexibility to meet demand for its innovative memory products, combining the most advanced process technology with the most up-to-date fabrication facilities.

Mass Production of industry’s first 20nm-class DDR3 DRAM

Samsung also announced the world’s first mass production of 20nm-class 2 gigabit (Gb) DDR3 DRAM. Slimmer, faster, and better for the Earth, the 20nm-class DDR3 DRAM promises the most advanced performance yet, a further improvement on the 30nm-class DDR3 DRAM that Samsung introduced in July last year. The 20nm-class solution improves productivity by 50 percent and reduces energy consumption by up to 40 percent, providing the greenest DDR3 solution available today.

With plans to also develop a new 20nm-class DDR3 component in 4Gb density by the end of 2011, Samsung will broaden its memory product lineup with mass production of 4 gigabyte (GB), 8GB, 16GB and 32GB DDR3 modules next year.

With all these innovations, Samsung expects to increase the adoption of its green memory solutions through diverse applications in the IT industry, ranging from widely-used PC and laptop applications to high-end applications such as enterprise server systems.

For more information about Samsung Green DDR3, visit www.samsung.com/GreenMemory