US-based Intel Corp’s research arm and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) have created a new low-energy prototype memory array that can boost a device’s battery life.
The prototype DRAM array can achieve four times lower latency at 25 times less energy than the standard double data rate synchronous DRAM (DDR SDRAM) devices that are generally used in computers, Intel Labs said.
The improved energy efficiency can help improve the battery life of devices, integrate mobile data faster, enhance graphics with higher resolution and boost mobile user experience, it said.
Intel Labs said that technology from the prototype could be used in system-on-chip (SoC) devices for mobile devices or a memory controller for datacenter systems with large memory arrays.
The prototype is the latest in a series of continuing research efforts in advanced memory architectures by Intel Labs and ITRI since 2011. They have created experimental memory arrays and prototyping, and developed model simulation software.
“As a technology innovator for nearly half a century, Intel believes that technology can have a transformative impact on people and communities,” Intel Labs managing director Wang Wen-hann (王文漢) said on Thursday last week in Taipei.
“This belief is what drives our collaborations with governments, the research community, academia, industry and others. The goal is to enable new thinking and skills to further economic empowerment,” Wang told a news conference at the first Intel Asia Innovation Summit in Taiwan.
The Intel Asia Innovation Summit runs through today. It has brought nearly 300 attendees from China, India, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the US and Vietnam to discuss key technology topics, such as the Internet of Things, wearables, interactive tech, mobility and big data.
Intel Labs also announced on Thursday last week a software prototype in cooperation with Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) — the world’s fifth-largest computer maker — that can achieve 2.5 times the input and output performances of conventional storage servers.
The software prototype is being tested and validated using real-world workloads recorded from the operating systems of Asustek’s cloud unit, Asus Cloud Corp (華碩雲端), the research division said.
Intel Labs has been collaborating with the computer maker since last year to enhance the performance and cost-efficiency of cloud storage systems.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume