Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc are starting production of a new, faster type of memory chip, which they say will change how computers access large amounts of data.
3D XPoint technology is the first new mainstream memory chip to come to the market in 25 years, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.
The chipmakers are to send samples of the product, which was described as being 1,000 times faster than what is in use, to potential customers later this year, they said.
The new memory is aimed at making it faster for computers to access and work with the enormous amount of data created by an increasing number of devices connected to one another and the Internet, the firms said.
It will also help to improve data-intensive tasks such as real-time tracking of diseases and immersive realistic gaming, the companies said.
Existing types of memory are either too expensive or are not fast enough for such tasks.
“One of the most significant hurdles in modern computing is the time it takes the processor to reach data on long-term storage,” Micron president Mark Adams said in the statement. “This new class of nonvolatile memory is a revolutionary technology that allows for quick access to enormous data sets and enables entirely new applications.”
The new technology is initially most likely to be used by operators of large data centers, such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc, to help boost performance of their servers, Gartner Inc analyst Martin Reynolds said.
“This to them has got to be a fabulous opportunity, because they can significantly increase the amount of memory they have in their servers,” he said. “That’s kind of a new market. You could see some new growth to come out of this.”
While Intel and Micron did not give details of the materials they have used for 3D XPoint, the new memory uses a different structure that is not based on transistors, the building blocks of integrated circuits for more than four decades. Production is to begin at Micron’s Lehi, Utah, plant next year.
Micron and Intel already have a joint venture that produces flash memory used to store data in mobile devices and increasingly also in computers. Micron also makes computer memory — chips that act as the short-term memory of phones and personal computers — competing with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc.
Intel shares rose 2.2 percent to US$28.96 at the close of trading in New York. Micron gained 9 percent to US$19.75.
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