Micron unveils 24‑Gb GDDR7 modules delivering 36 Gbps for next‑gen GPUs, joining 3‑Gb

Micron’s announcement marks the company’s first foray into the 24‑Gb capacity tier for GDDR7, a step that expands the memory‑chipmaker’s portfolio beyond the 3‑Gb parts it introduced earlier this year. In a blog post, Micron detailed that the new 24‑Gb modules achieve a data rate of 36 Gbps, matching the speed of its recently launched 3‑Gb devices and delivering roughly 12.5 % more bandwidth than the inaugural GDDR7 parts that debuted at 32 Gbps (Wccftech). The move positions Micron to supply memory for the next wave of discrete GPUs that will demand higher capacity buffers for both immersive graphics rendering and the growing compute loads of high‑performance AI inference.

The timing of Micron’s rollout is noteworthy because the GDDR7 standard itself was only introduced with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 50 series last year, and the first production GPUs—such as the RTX 5090—already began shipping with 24‑Gb GDDR7 chips from other suppliers (Wccftech). Samsung and SK Hynix have been ahead in the speed race, offering 3‑Gb GDDR7 modules that can operate at 42.5 Gbps and 40 Gbps respectively, with SK Hynix promising future parts that could reach 48 Gbps (Tom’s Hardware). Micron’s 36‑Gbps modules therefore lag behind the industry’s current performance ceiling, but they arrive at a point when no Nvidia graphics cards on the market are yet able to exploit speeds beyond the 40‑Gbps mark, suggesting a gap between the fastest available silicon and the actual requirements of today’s GPUs.

From a product‑strategy perspective, Micron is betting on the “capacity‑first” angle. By pushing the density to 24 Gb while holding the data rate steady, the company can offer GPU manufacturers larger memory pools without needing to double the number of chips on a board. This is especially relevant for AI workloads that consume massive tensors and benefit from larger on‑die buffers to reduce data movement latency. Micron’s own blog emphasizes that the new modules are “designed for immersive graphics and high‑performance AI,” underscoring the dual‑market focus that mirrors Nvidia’s own positioning of its RTX 50 series for both gaming and AI acceleration (Wccftech).

Analysts have pointed out that Micron’s entry into the GDDR7 market comes after Samsung’s high‑speed debut, which set a benchmark for the industry (The Verge). While Micron’s 36‑Gbps speed is modest compared to Samsung’s 42.5 Gbps, the company’s broader product roadmap may aim to close that gap in subsequent revisions. The current generation’s primary advantage lies in its higher capacity, which could translate into cost efficiencies for GPU makers that would otherwise need to stack more 3‑Gb chips to achieve similar memory footprints. In the short term, however, the competitive landscape remains dominated by Samsung and SK Hynix, whose faster modules are already being evaluated for integration into upcoming graphics cards.

The broader market implication is that memory vendors are now racing not only on raw bandwidth but also on density, a trend driven by the convergence of gaming, ray tracing, and AI inference on a single GPU die. Micron’s 24‑Gb, 36‑Gbps GDDR7 modules add a new data point to that race, offering a middle ground that may appeal to OEMs seeking to balance performance, power, and board‑space constraints. As GPU architects continue to push the envelope of on‑chip compute, the availability of higher‑capacity GDDR7 will likely become a key factor in differentiating next‑generation products, even if the ultimate bandwidth ceiling remains set by Samsung and SK Hynix’s faster offerings.