Micron shows HBM3 Gen2 memory chips with bandwidths of 1.2TB/s

Micron has presented its HBM3 Gen2 memory. These chips each have 24GB of memory capacity and have bandwidths of more than 1.2TB/s. The American memory maker is also working on a new HBM generation with bandwidths of more than 2TB/s.

The HBM3 Gen2 chips consist of eight 24Gbit layers and therefore offer a total capacity of 24GB, writes Micron on Wednesday. Eventually it will also come with 36GB chips with twelve layers. The memory modules offer bandwidths of ‘more than 1.2TB/s’. Each pin has a bandwidth of 9.2Gbit/s, which equates to approximately 1.2TB/s on a 1024bit memory bus. That is up to fifty percent faster than the HBM3 chips that are currently available. The new chips are also more energy efficient; Micron advertises 2.5 times higher performance per watt compared to Micron’s HBM2E chips.

Although Micron calls these modules ‘HBM3 Gen2’, these are the first HBM3 chips that the manufacturer produces. The company previously offered maximum HBM2E memory. Micron is the first company to develop ‘second generation’ HBM3 chips. The manufacturer is currently distributing samples to major customers. HBM3 has a standard bandwidth of 819GB/s. Competitors Samsung and SK hynix currently supply ‘standard’ HBM3 chips with that bandwidth.

Micron also shows HBMNext on its roadmap, also writes Tom’s Hardware. This memory must provide bandwidths of more than 2TB/s. Each HBMNext package contains a maximum of 64GB of memory. This memory type is planned for release around 2026.