Samsung Electronics wins two FMS 2026 awards for NAND and AI memory innovations

Samsung Electronics won awards in the next-generation NAND flash and AI memory chip categories at FMS (Future of Memory and Storage) 2026, one of the world's premier memory technology conferences.

Samsung said Thursday it received the 3D & NAND Innovation Award for its V10 BV-NAND and the Next-Gen Memory Award for its LPDDR5X-PIM at the FMS Awards ceremony held on the opening day of FMS 2026.

Samsung said the recognition reinforces its commitment to strengthening technology leadership in next-generation NAND and low-power AI memory chips aimed at the AI era.

The V10 (10th-generation) BV (Bonding Vertical)-NAND is a next-generation V-NAND technology featuring an ultra-high stacking structure of more than 400 layers. By storing more data within the same footprint, it is regarded as a key technology for meeting the surging data storage demand driven by the rapid spread of AI.

Samsung applied two advanced manufacturing techniques to the chip: "wafer bonding technology," which vertically bonds two or more wafers together, and "3-stack technology," which divides cells into three stacks that are manufactured separately and then stacked vertically.

Unlike conventional approaches — where memory cells and peripheral circuits are fabricated together on a single wafer — the V10 BV-NAND produces each on separate wafers before bonding them together with precision.

As a result, the chip stores more data in the same area while reducing power consumption and heat generation, improving both product performance and data center operating efficiency. FMS recognized this technological innovation in selecting the V10 BV-NAND for the 3D & NAND Innovation Award.

The LPDDR5X-PIM, which took the Next-Gen Memory Award, is a next-generation memory chip in which Samsung became the first in the world to integrate PIM (processing-in-memory) technology into LPDDR5X, a low-power DRAM.

PIM is a memory design modeled on the human brain, embedding computational functions directly inside the memory so that simple operations can be handled on the spot without moving data to a processor. The LPDDR5X-PIM performs calculations directly within the memory and sends only the necessary results to the processor, minimizing data movement within the system.

By reducing repetitive data transfers between processor and memory while simultaneously boosting AI computing performance and power efficiency, the chip can ease the data bottlenecks that arise when running large-scale AI models.

The LPDDR5X-PIM is expected to find use in fields that demand both high computing performance and low power consumption, such as AI accelerators and high-performance computing. Samsung plans to develop the technology into a core solution for leading the next-generation AI memory chip market.

Samsung is set to unveil its next-generation memory chip roadmap, AI memory chip solutions and next-generation storage technologies at FMS 2026, which runs through Thursday local time, presenting its vision for future technologies to global customers and industry stakeholders.

Earlier at FMS 2026, Samsung also became the first in the industry to publicly display concept models of "zHBM" and "zNAND-O," both applying a three-dimensional stacking approach to DRAM and NAND flash alike.