South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix revealed plans to start mass-producing its next-generation graphics memory chip this calendar quarter, sporting an operating speed of 32Gb/s.

In a statement, it claimed the GDDR7 is the best-performing graphics memory product, with a 60 per cent improvement in speed from the previous generation. The DRAM chip also is 50 per cent more power efficient due to new packaging technology which addresses heat issues stemming from the ultra-fast processing of data.

The chipmaker stated it increased the number of heat-dissipating substrates from four to six and applied epoxy moulding compound (EMC) to the packaging material to reduce thermal resistance by 74 per cent, while the size remained unchanged.

Sangkwon Lee, head of DRAM product planning and enablement, predicted the GDDR7 would be used in a wider range of applications including high-specification 3D graphics, AI, high-performance computing and autonomous driving.

On 26 July, the company announced plans to invest KRW9.4 trillion ($6.8 billion) to build the first fabrication plant in the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster.