Samsung Electronics' memory business department plans to develop the next-generation 15 and 16-nanometer (nm) and mass produce it in the second half of next year. In addition, the company aims to make 18-nm DRAM chips account for 30 to 40 percent in the overall DRAM production by the second half of next year by continuously ramping up its current18-nm DRAM production.

Chung Eun-seung, executive vice president of Samsung’s DS division, hinted in early last year that the company would mass produce 10-nm class chip technology by 2020. With the current pace, however, the company can make such an achievement by early 2019. Samsung Electronics has already started the mass production of 18-nm DRAM chips early this year and is preparing for the production of 15-nm and 16-nm DRAM in the second half of the next year.

According to the data from market researcher IHS, Samsung Electronics has a 46.6 percent share in the DRAM market in the second quarter this year. Its competitors, such as SK Hynix and Micron, are still selling 20nm-class DRAM chips as their main products, and they are planning to produce 18-nm DRAM after the second quarter next year. Semiconductor market watchers say that Samsung Electronics and other firms have a technological gap of a year to a year and a half.