This post is the first of a two-part series explaining commodities, and especially how they relate to memory chips. Part 1 defines a commodity and explains its attributes. Part 2 explains the commodity cycle.
Often in my presentations The Memory Guy will refer to memory chips, particularly DRAM and NAND flash, as Continue reading “Are Memory Chips Commodities? (Part 1)”
Today, Groundhog’s Day, Objective Analysis is publishing another five of our Objective Analysis Briefs, rounding out 2022’s total of new documents to 20. This week’s set covers even a more diverse range than those that we published in the past three weeks, with no overlap between any two Briefs’ subjects. They range from forecast methodology and China’s semiconductor efforts to critically considering Continue reading “Five More New Briefs Published”
Something that has really changed over the past few years is the use of an increasing numbers of voltage levels in multi-level cell flash, from SLC, to MLC, to TLC, and then QLC, with the promise of PLC (5 bits per cell) in the foreseeable future. That means each PLC cell must be able to hold 32 voltage levels accurately, and the NAND chip’s control logic must be able to tell one level from the next. This post’s graphic is intended to Continue reading “How 3D NAND Makes QLC and PLC Feasible”
This week’s newly-published Objective Analysis Briefs have just been released. These five cover business strategies (Intel, WDC, and Everspin), policy issues, and quantum computing – quite a variety! Each is derived from one of our most interesting and timeless “Insights” published on membership website Smartkarma. Now Objective Analysis is making these studies available to Continue reading “This Week’s Round of Objective Analysis Briefs”
Samsung has been strongly promoting its “Aquabolt-XL” Processor-In-Memory (PIM) devices for the past year. In this second post of a two-part series The Memory Guy will present other companies’ similar PIM devices, and will discuss the PIM approach’s outlook for commercial success.
Part 1 of this series explains the concept of Processing in Memory (PIM), details Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL design, and shares some performance data. It can be found HERE.
This is not at all the first Continue reading “Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL Processor-In-Memory (Part 2)”
This week five more Objective Analysis Briefs have just become available. This handful covers commonly held myths and the basic underpinnings of semiconductor market cycles. All are drawn from the most interesting and timeless of the Insights that we have published on membership website Smartkarma. Now Objective Analysis is providing them to our friends for a reasonable price.
The Brief is a very Continue reading “More New Objective Analysis Briefs Available”
For the past year, since ISSCC in February 2021, Samsung has been strongly promoting its “Aquabolt-XL” Processor-In-Memory (PIM) devices. In this two-part post The Memory Guy will explain the Aquabolt-XL architecture, its performance, other companies’ similar devices, and discuss the PIM approach’s outlook for commercial success.
Processing in memory is not a Continue reading “Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL Processor-In-Memory (Part 1)”
Although Objective Analysis has published its “Brief” format white papers for some time, this line has never received the focus that it deserves. To remedy that, we are taking the most interesting and timeless of the Insights that we have published on membership website Smartkarma and providing them to our friends for a reasonable price.
The Brief is a very short report format used to make a succinct Continue reading “Introducing New Objective Analysis Briefs”
During his December 15 IEDM keynote speech, Samsung Electronics Chairman Kinam Kim really surprised me. He spoke favorably of the approach that YMTC is using to produce 3D NAND flash.
This approach, which YMTC named “Xtacking,” involves the use of two separate wafers to manufacture a 3D NAND chip. The brief way to describe it is to say that Continue reading “Did Samsung Just Endorse YMTC’s Xtacking?”
If you ask any two people in the computing industry to define the term “Storage Class Memory” you’re likely to get three or more answers. That’s because the term isn’t well defined anywhere.
Some people use it for emerging memory technologies like MRAM, ReRAM, FRAM, and PCM/XPoint. Others include NAND flash, even in the form of Continue reading “What Exactly IS “Storage Class Memory”?”
