Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of memory, has begun operations of its new Line-16 memory semiconductor fabrication facility, which will provide the industry’s largest production capacity. It also announced the start of mass production of DDR3 and NAND flash memory using 20nm-class process technology, which improves peformance amid reduction of energy consumption and manufacturing costs.

"The global semiconductor industry is in a period of fierce cyclical volatility, so the opening of this new memory fab and the start of mass production of the world's first 20nm-class DRAM are important milestones to reinforce Samsung's industry leadership," said Kun-hee Lee, the chairman of Samsung Electronics.

The new Line-16 is located in Samsung’s Nano City Complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Housed in a 12-story building, Line-16 is the industry’s most advanced and largest memory fabrication facility, with a combined workspace of approximately 198 000 square meters. Samsung began construction of Line-16 in May 2010 and completed installation of equipment for clean rooms this May. Trial production began in June and the facility was made operational for mass production in August.

With the start of production at the new fab, which will constitute a total investment of 12 trillion Korean won ($10.530 billion, €7.8432 billion) through completion, Samsung aims to reinforce its leadership in the global memory semiconductor segment, while providing the technology and capacity to support the long-term growth of the global IT industry.

Starting this month, Samsung began mass production of high-performance 20nm-class NAND flash memory chips, with a projected volume of more than 10 thousand 300mm wafers monthly. Samsung also announced the world’s first mass production of 20nm-class 2Gb memory chips.

The 20nm-class DDR3 DRAM promises the most advanced performance yet, a further improvement on the 30nm-class DDR3 DRAM that Samsung introduced in July last year. The 20nm-class solution improves productivity by 50% and reduces energy consumption by up to 40%.

Samsung plans to ramp up production of NAND flash memory to meet market demand, and will begin production of more advanced memory semiconductors with high density and performance using 10nm-class process technology next year.

With plans to also develop a new 20nm-class DDR3 component in 4Gb density by the end of 2011, Samsung will broaden its memory product lineup with mass production of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB DDR3 modules next year.

"We must prepare for an intensifying storm in the semiconductor industry by further enhancing our technological capabilities and expertise in order to maintain our leadership position," said Kun-hee Lee.

Tags: Samsung, Semiconductor, DRAM, NAND, 20nm, 30nm, DDR3, Flash