Micron has finally joined the 3GB GDDR7 race, officially introducing its 3GB modules that will compete with Samsung and SK Hynix's 3GB variants. The memory manufacturer officially announced the larger GDDR7 version in a blog post, revealing that its new 3GB ICs operate at a speed of 36 Gbps.
According to Redaksiya, the new modules are 12.5% faster than the first GDDR7 modules on the market, achieving a bandwidth of 32 Gbps. However, Micron's new modules are significantly slower than Samsung's competing solutions, which can operate at speeds up to 42.5 Gbps. SK Hynix similarly has GDDR7 modules on the market that can scale up to 40 Gbps and is working on future models that could reach 48 Gbps.
To Micron's credit, there are no current Nvidia graphics cards utilizing GDDR7 speeds of 40 Gbps or higher. The highest GDDR7 transfer speeds in current GDDR7 GPUs are found in the RTX 5080, which features memory modules operating at 30 Gbps. Other cards, like the RTX 5090, use even lower memory speeds of 28 Gbps. However, we have seen memory overclocks up to 34 Gbps on SK Hynix and Samsung GDDR7 in the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5090D. Consequently, there is not much incentive for Micron to introduce its new GDDR7 memory modules at 40 Gbps or higher speeds. The next-generation RTX 60 series or subsequent AMD Radeon GPUs might utilize higher memory speeds, but this is not currently demanded by existing GDDR7 GPUs. Beyond speeds, having a third manufacturer for 3GB GDDR7 will be very beneficial for Nvidia and other GPU manufacturers. Nvidia already sources 3GB GDDR7 chips from both Samsung and SK Hynix, and to help compensate for the current NAND flash/memory shortage, Micron will likely begin supplying its 3GB GDDR7. Currently, the only Nvidia GPUs using 3GB GDDR7 are the laptop variant of the RTX 5090 and the RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell workstation GPU. If Nvidia ever decides to release an RTX 50 Super series, according to all rumors in this line, the RTX 5080 Super, 5070 Super, and 5060 Super will utilize 3GB modules.