Samsung Electronics eager in building chip prowess beyond memory has released two new mobile processors and other solutions tailored for future mobile devices, defining its market leadership in the 5G era characterized by intensive use of video and artificial intelligence applications.

The semiconductor giant unveiled the Exynos 990 and Exynos Modem 5123 at the Samsung Tech Day 2019 in San Jose, California on Wednesday, stating they are perfectly adapted for high-volume 5G and AI applications. The new Exynos 990 with a 3rd-gen AI neural processing unit (NPU) and the unparalleled speed of the Exynos Modem 5123 are innovative products optimized for AI and 5G applications, said noted Inyup Kang, president of System LSI Business at Samsung Electronics, who led the event, adding the third annual tech day marks the first one held at a level of System LSI.

Both the Exynos 990 premium mobile processor and ultra-fast next-generation 5G Exynos Modem 5123 harness the most advanced 7-nanometer process technology using extreme ultra-violet to provide unprecedented performance and accelerated product development options for mobile manufacturers, the company said.

New levels of mobile gaming and other graphics-intensive operations are enabled by the Exynos 990’s inclusion of an embedded Arm Mali-G77 GPU which improves graphic performance or power efficiency by up to 20 percent.

The Exynos 990 also makes on-device AI practical and useful, with a top-class dual-core NPU and improved digital signal processor that can perform over ten-trillion operations per second.

The Exynos 990 and Exynos Modem 5123 are expected to begin mass production by the end of this year and could be used in Samsung’s flagship smartphones to come next year.

Samsung Electronics said next-generation mobile connectivity needs are addressed by the 5G Exynos Modem 5123, one of the first 5G modem chips manufactured using a 7nm EUV process. It supports virtually all networks, from 5G’s sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrums to 2G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, HSPA and 4G LTE, with outstanding downlink speed across the board.

Samsung Electronics also introduced technologies currently under development, including 6G model solutions, adding 6G technology aims to enable holography, nano-biodata communication, and long-distance communication for space travel.

Samsung is sophisticating its image processing sensor technology to make a new image sensor capable of holding 108 megapixels in a much smaller unit area than the current 86-megapixel unit. Using this sensor, smartphones can take more powerful pictures than DSLR cameras.

The company also said it is attempting to integrate an image sensor, a DRAM chip, and a logic chip into one chip.

By Shin Hyun-kyu and Minu Kim

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