SK Hynix scientists are already making plans for DDR6 DRAM. Development of the successor to DDR5 DRAM should take place in about five to six years. First DDR5 will hit the market, of which mass production is expected for 2020.
In an interview with The Korea Herald, SK Hynix's DRAM researcher Kim Dong-kyun states that the company is exploring combining DRAM with a System on a Chip (SoC). Although he didn't provide any further details he stated that the company is discussing, “several concepts of the post DDR5 [era].”
Although the combination of DRAM and a SoC is a possibility for DDR6, it's also very well possible that SK Hynix will opt to continue the trend of speeding up the data transmission. Whether the combination of DRAM with a SoC doesn't speed up data transmission and whether the combination has other benefits is not explained by Dong-kyun.
Plans for DDR6 are also still in early stage, actual development will take five to six years. According to Dong-kyun, it took SK Hynix about two years of research to develop new technology used in DDR5.
DDR5 should be faster and consume less energy than DDR4. Initially DDR5 will offer 5,200 MT/s, by 2022 that should be increased to 6,400 MT/s. An important feature of DDR5 DRAM is its error correction capabilities, which according to Dong-kyun is important for automotive applications such as self-driving cars.
