Micron Technology Inc. said today it has begun sampling its first batch of Double Data Rate 5 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory-based dual in-line memory modules with select customers.

DDR5 is a next-generation DRAM technology that delivers substantial performance improvements over DDR4, its predecessor. Micron claims its DDR5 provides an 85% increase in memory performance, with double the memory density and improved reliability to boot. It also provides superior data-transfer performance and makes more efficient use of central processing unit clock cycles and system power resources, Micron said.

Tom Eby, senior vice president and general manager of Micron’s Compute and Networking business unit, said the sampling of its first DDR5 DIMMs is a “major milestone” in the development of next-generation server platforms.

The coming availability of DDR5 will be timely because corporate data centers are rapidly becoming overwhelmed by the ever-growing datasets and compute-intensive applications they have to deal with, Micron said. These advanced workloads threaten to starve data centers of bandwidth due to the limitations of existing DDR4 technology.

“It’s a fundamental redefinition of SDRAM performance, pushing the limits of high-speed signaling and directly addressing the memory bandwidth challenge,” the company said. “DDR5 delivers higher bandwidths and bigger densities, and it enables the increased reliability, availability and scaling that modern data centers require.”

Analyst Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. told SiliconANGLE DDR5 would be essential data center technology for enabling faster and better-performing applications at lower costs.

“DDR5 plays an important role with higher density and faster access,” Mueller said. “Best of all, it doesn’t require code changes to take advantage of the performance gains, so it’s good to see Micron going into production.”

Photo: Micron