Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is accelerating its push to lead in magnetoresistive memory (MRAM), a "dream memory" technology designed to overcome the limitations of DRAM. The move comes just four months after the company unveiled the industry's first 8-nanometer (nm, one-billionth of a meter) MRAM, as it has now secured even more advanced 5-nm core technology.
According to industry sources Thursday, a research team led by Song Jai-hyuk, Samsung Electronics' chief technology officer (CTO), will present research achievements on the world's first 5-nm MRAM cell — the smallest unit that makes up a chip — at the VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) Symposium, the most authoritative academic conference in the field of semiconductor integrated circuits, held in Hawaii on Saturday.
MRAM is a new memory technology that stores information using the magnetic properties of electrons. It offers operating speeds comparable to DRAM while preserving information without power, significantly reducing power consumption and heat generation issues. At the same time, it can permanently store information like NAND flash. It draws particular attention as an automotive memory technology, where power efficiency and durability are crucial.
The 5-nm process is one step ahead of the 8-nm, which is currently the most advanced process for MRAM. Samsung Electronics mass-produced 28-nm in 2018 and 14-nm-class in 2024, and in February this year unveiled the world's first 8-nm MRAM at an international conference. It then secured core technology in 5-nm development by completing cell implementation — the smallest unit that makes up a chip — and performance verification.
In particular, it can withstand extreme environments ranging from minus 40 degrees to 150 degrees Celsius, proving its performance as automotive memory. Samsung Electronics stressed that "by overcoming key challenges such as leakage current, it enables the implementation of 5-nm MRAM that meets the automotive semiconductor durability standard (AEC-Q100)." Based on this, the company plans to secure 5-nm MRAM mass-production technology by next year through full-scale chip development.
MRAM has drawn attention as a game changer that can overcome the power and heat issues of current DRAM, and global competition has begun in earnest. In particular, after developing 12-nm MRAM last year, TSMC skipped 8-nm and jumped straight into 5-nm development to catch up with Samsung Electronics, intensifying tensions between the two major foundry (contract chip manufacturing) companies. According to market research firm Global Market Insights, Samsung Electronics ranked first with a 14.3% share of the MRAM market last year, followed by TSMC at 11.9%.
