Today, the automotive industry is on the cusp of a major electrical and electronic (E/E) architecture change. What is driving this change? Simply put, the traditional distributed architecture used for decades is not suited to process the increasing amounts of data from new systems and cannot support software defined features.
semiconductor.samsung.com/us/, May. 12, 2025 –
So, what is the solution? Centralized architecture. This solution consolidates various functions separated throughout the vehicle in distributed and domain architectures (ADAS, IVI, etc.) into a single, centralized module. Instead of the systems being isolated or separated, all functions within a region of the vehicle are connected to a zonal gateway. Each gateway, in turn, is connected to other zonal gateways and the high-performance, centralized SoC(s) via a multi-Gig Ethernet channel. See the previous tech blog for more details on centralized architectures.
In addition to the performance increase, centralized architecture has a cost benefit. First, the use of a common ethernet backbone for all functions eliminates dedicated cable harnesses required for each function or domain. Next, as functions are consolidated into centralized SoCs, the total number of SoCs and ECUs decreases. It is estimated that a vehicle with centralized architecture has 20% fewer SoC/ECU(s) and 10% lower hardware and material costs.1
Aside from the performance requirements, centralized architectures will be running safety-critical functions such as braking and collision avoidance. These applications require unique safety requirements to ensure data integrity and reliability in harsh environmental conditions. Enduring extreme temperatures and mechanical stress is essential to safeguarding operation in safety-critical functions. Furthermore, in a centralized architecture design where functions are consolidated, memory is a shared resource among previously isolated functions. As such, the memory must support the required safety level of each function it supports.
These changes will have a profound impact on system memory requirements.
Originally developed for mobile phones due to its low-power and high-performance characteristics,
LPDDR DRAM is an ideal choice for automotive centralized architectures. As greater volumes of data are generated through autonomous driving features, high-bandwidth LPDDR memory is needed to process massive amounts of vehicle data at much faster speeds.
Samsung recently released its newest automotive-grade version of the LPDDR5X, which is manufactured on the most advanced 12nm-class technology node in production with a highly competitive cell size2. This new addition to the automotive portfolio provides higher performance and power efficiency while maintaining form, fit, and function compatibilities with previous LPDDR5/5X products.