Samsung Electronics Co. has raised the bar in 10-nanometer chip class by galloping onto the third generation even as others are yet to mass-produce from second-generation wafer.

The world’s top chipmaker announced Thursday it has succeeded in fabricating 8-gigabit (GB) DDR4 DRAM chip from current 10-nanometer silicon in another 10 percent improved performance and power saving from the second generation formula. The latest technology allows 20 percent greater yield at 20 percent lower power from existing fab instead of relying on costly next-generation extreme ultraviolet lithography.

The milestone was achieved in just 16 months after it began mass producing the second-generation 10-nm 8-gigabit DDR4 DRAM chips in November 2017.

Mass production of the third-generation chip will start in the second half of this year as it passed all the tests conducted by applications customers.

Samsung Electronics expects the new chip would pave the way for upgrade to next-generation DRAM chips and systems like DDR5 and LPDDR5. It plans to focus more on its main memory production at its Pyeongtaek site to meet the growing demand for high-performance chips used in enterprise servers, mobile devices and IT devices.

By Lee Sang-duk and Lee Ha-yeon

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