Giant Leaps in Memory Technology

While you may sometimes blame your processor for the running speed of your computer, the fact is that most modern processors spend more time waiting for the computer memory chip to their job than anything else. Intel and Micron, however, may have created a revolution that will serve as a giant leap in memory storage technology.

As technology advances, speed of access to data has become the primary bottleneck. After all, the latest and greatest applications are only as fast as a database can spit out the necessary information. Processors, on the other, have grown in power by leaps and bounds. The result is the equivalent of processors that twiddle their thumbs waiting for their slower counterparts.

One of the toughest things for researchers when it comes to memory is that, to keep things affordable, sacrifices have often been performance related. DRAM was invented in 1966. That was the only memory available until 1989 when flash memory (NAND) was developed. NAND is way cheaper than DRAM but also slower.

The future, however, is XPoint. This new form of memory is exponentially faster than NAND (about 1,000 times the speed), and it is more stable. It is also denser which allows it to be contained in a smaller space. In fact, you can get 128GB of storage operating at lightning fast speeds on a single memory stick.

While the speed of XPoint still does not match that of DRAM, it is far more stable and infinitely cheaper to produce. Plus, being able to but 10 times the amount of storage in a single wafer is a must in the modern world of smaller and smaller technology.

The highly advanced technology of computer memory is already in production by Intel, and there are many applications for this far faster memory. Everything from AI to 8K gaming will be benefited by this advance in memory. Memory intensive data analysis such as genetic analysis and fraud detection will also find this tech useful. Plus, social media is requiring far fast transfer of data with social networks expanding across the globe.