The future is AI 6G, Samsung shows off industry-first 36GB DRAM chip

6G is upon us, and it’s going to be AI-driven!

Things began with 2G all the way back in 1991, which was then followed by 3G in 2001, 4G in 2009, and 5G in 2018. The release of 6G hasn’t been set just yet, but given how quickly time flies, it’ll be here sooner than we anticipated.

Experts are forecasting that sixth-generation (6G) mobile networks, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), will merge communication and computing into a seamlessly interconnected realm of digital and physical realms. Qin Fei, for example – president of the communications research institute at vivo – says: “Previously, we discussed the internet of things, but 6G introduces us to an intelligent or smart internet of things”.

With enhancements in data latency, security, reliability, and the capacity to instantaneously handle vast amounts of data worldwide, Qin and other experts foresee 6G dramatically changing both leisure and work. Vivo's vision for 6G includes pioneering applications such as mixed reality, holographic and multisensory communication, interactive three-dimensional digital humans, cooperative robots, and autonomous driving.

Samsung is also on the AI 6G train, and it’s not alone.

Samsung announced that it is participating in the AI-RAN (Artificial Intelligence-Radio Access Network) Alliance as a founding member, with the goal of promoting 6G innovation by combining AI technology and wireless communication technology.

Officially launched at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the AI-RAN Alliance is an organization aimed at revitalizing the convergence of AI and wireless communication and leading technology innovation through cooperation with related companies. A total of eleven organizations — including Samsung, Arm, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, SoftBank and Northeastern University — are participating as founding members. This new alliance will collaborate on the development of innovative new technologies, as well as the application of these technologies to commercial products in preparation for the upcoming 6G era.

“Emerging services in the 6G era will revolutionize the way people interact with technology, and AI will be an integral part of this trend”, said Charlie Zhang, Senior Vice President at Samsung Research America. “The AI-RAN Alliance will foster collaboration, drive innovation and usher in a new era of transformation around AI and 6G networks. We believe this coalition will create new value for end users and operators through AI-based use cases and innovations”.

The 36GB industry-first DRAM chip

For AI to function, lots and lots of memory is needed. That’s why it’s no surprise that Samsung has just announced that it has developed HBM3E 12H, the industry’s first 12-stack HBM3E DRAM and the highest-capacity HBM product to date.

Samsung’s HBM3E 12H provides an all-time high bandwidth of up to 1,280 gigabytes per second (GB/s) and an industry-leading capacity of 36GB. In comparison to the 8-stack HBM3 8H, both aspects have improved by more than 50%.

“The industry’s AI service providers are increasingly requiring HBM with higher capacity, and our new HBM3E 12H product has been designed to answer that need”, said Yongcheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning at Samsung Electronics. “This new memory solution forms part of our drive toward developing core technologies for high-stack HBM and providing technological leadership for the high-capacity HBM market in the AI era”.