IBM isn't the only company to devise revolutionary memory, as Intel and ITRI want to make their own, one that is supposed to be both powerful and very power efficient compared to what exists today.
Back when we mentioned JEDEC and its
DDR4, it became easy to see that the memory market isn't that good at progressing steadily.
Though clock speeds can and have been optimized by memory makers, there is only so much one can do within the confines of the technology.
DDR4 will be much better than DDR3, which means memory advances in leaps and bounds instead of steady steps.
At least, this is one way to look at it when compared to how CPUs and GPUs get better and better every year.
Intel doesn't feel like memory is progressing quite as fast as it should, so it has formed a partnership with Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).
Together, they want to make a new type of memory that will not only be very fast, but also 10 to 100 times more power efficient than the one today.
This would both open up new prowess levels for systems as well as appeal to mobile devices, like smartphones, tablets and, of course, ultrabooks.
Currently, data is moved from the processor to the memory and back when performing tasks, which takes a lot of energy.
The new project means to stack the memory directly on top of the CPU, which would be a sure way to cut on the energy requirements.
“The memory market has been stagnant over the past few years by working with ITRI we’ll spur innovation,”
said Justin Rattner CTO of Intel.
No clue yet on how long it might take for this new breed of 3D integrated circuits (ICs) to become reality and if they are an enemy of
IBM's Racetrack.
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