Micron Technology, Inc. today announced that its next-generation GDDR7 graphics memory has entered the sampling phase. This product leads the industry in bit density and utilizes Micron's 1β (1-beta) DRAM technology coupled with an innovative architecture. The GDDR7 offers a substantial boost in performance with memory speeds of 32 Gb/s, all within a design that prioritizes power optimization.

Compared to its predecessor, GDDR6, the GDDR7 provides a remarkable increase in system bandwidth, up to 1.5 TB/s, which represents a 60% improvement. The inclusion of four separate channels allows for the fine-tuning of various workloads, leading to quicker response times and an enhanced gaming experience with reduced processing delays.

The GDDR7 also achieves a significant leap in power efficiency, offering more than a 50% improvement over GDDR6. This advancement results in better thermal management and extended battery life. Additionally, the introduction of a new sleep mode cuts standby power consumption by up to 70%.

Advanced Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) features on the Micron GDDR7 bolster device reliability and data integrity without any compromise in performance. This broadens the scope of applications for the GDDR7, making it suitable for AI, gaming, and high-performance computing workloads.

In terms of generative AI workloads, such as text-to-image creation, the GDDR7's high performance can increase throughput by up to 33% and reduce response times by up to 20%. Moreover, Micron anticipates that graphics cards equipped with GDDR7 will see a greater than 30% improvement in frames per second (FPS) for both ray tracing and rasterization, surpassing current trends of GDDR6 and GDDR6X across various resolutions including 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.

The introduction of GDDR7 rounds out Micron's industry-leading product lineup for edge AI inference applications on CPU, NPU, and GPU components, offering DDR, LPDDR, and GDDR memory options. For gaming applications, the GDDR7 memory facilitates AI-enhanced gameplay with adaptable landscapes, players, and storylines, all enabled through performance and frame buffer scaling.

Praveen Vaidyanathan, Vice President and General Manager of the Compute Products Group at Micron, said, "Micron is once again at the forefront of memory innovation, developing the highest bandwidth solutions available, built with advanced process and interface technology to enable continued graphics performance leadership. The best-in-class capabilities of Micron GDDR7 memory help bring new levels of realism and performance to the most demanding applications."

With over five years of successful high-volume manufacturing of GDDR6X, Micron has consistently delivered world-class performance and quality. These attributes, along with mature technology, design, and test experience, will help accelerate the adoption of GDDR7 and provide full-spectrum support for the product's manufacturing ramp. Micron introduced PAM4 signaling on GDDR6X, delivering leadership performance with more than a 20% improvement over GDDR6. Success with PAM4 forms the basis for Micron's continued GDDR7 portfolio leadership with PAM3. Engineering advancements, such as measuring the industry's first 40 Gb/s PAM3 performance, pave the way to higher performance on future GDDR7 products.

Ecosystem partners have expressed their enthusiasm for the Micron GDDR7 memory solution:

Joe Macri, Senior Vice President and Corporate Fellow at AMD, said, "At AMD, we are committed to creating the most immersive gaming experiences. Our collaboration with Micron on GDDR7 advances our shared goal. We are excited about the launch of Micron's GDDR7 and look forward to leveraging this technology to make gaming even more responsive and lifelike."

Boyd Phelps, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Silicon Solutions Group at Cadence, said, "Cadence has a strong history of collaboration with Micron to develop industry-leading memory IP subsystem solutions for GDDR, HBM, DDR, and LPDDR. We are using samples of Micron's leading 1β DRAM technology-based GDDR7 to test and validate GDDR7 PHY IP operating at speeds up to 36 Gb/s."