Samsung debuts industry-first 512GB CXL DRAM

Samsung has launched its 512 GB Compute Express Link (CXL) DRAM, an industry-first.

The new CXL DRAM builds on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) CXL controller that supports 512GB of DDR5 DRAM, a four-fold increase in memory capacity over the firm’s previous CXL offering.

Samsung’s latest CXL memory module also allows servers to support tens of terabytes of data at‌ ‌one-fifth‌ ‌the‌ ‌system‌ ‌latency. The EDSFF (E3.S) form factor makes the module extremely suitable for high-capacity enterprise servers and data centers.

Samsung’s 512GB CXL DRAM is also the first to support the PCIe 5.0 communication bus standard.

The company will start sampling its CXL DRAM in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, with plans to commercialize the memory module as next-generation server platforms come online.

Additionally, Samsung plans to launch an updated version of its open-source Scalable Memory Development Kit (SMDK) in the coming weeks. ‌The‌ ‌toolkit‌ ‌makes‌ ‌it‌ ‌easy to integrate the CXL memory expander into AI, big data, and cloud applications without modifying the underlying‌ ‌systems.

"CXL DRAM will become a critical turning point for future computing structures by substantially advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and big data services, as we aggressively expand its usage in next-generation memory architectures including software-defined memory (SDM)," said Cheolmin Park, VP of memory global sales & marketing at Samsung Electronics, and director of the CXL consortium.

"Samsung will continue to collaborate across the industry to develop and standardize CXL memory solutions while fostering an increasingly solid ecosystem," added Park.