Emerging Memories After Optane

Prism made of memory hierarchy splitting a beam of light into a color spectrum. Each color has the name of a new memory technology.Now that Intel is exiting the Optane market what will happen to the market for new memory technologies?  This is an interesting question that The Memory Guy has focused considerable attention over the past few years.  In a nutshell, the market will continue to develop, but at a slower pace, with the bulk of revenue growth going to memories embedded into SoCs.

Even so, the market will grow significantly, with revenues reaching Continue reading “Emerging Memories After Optane”

New Report: Emerging Memories Take Off

Fighter Jets Doing Acrobatic Take-OffThe Memory Guy is pleased to announced the release of a new report by Objective Analysis and Coughlin Associates: Emerging Memories Take Off.

The report is the 2021 update of our popular 2020 emerging memories report, and includes detailed technology profiles of MRAM, ReRAM, FRAM, PCM/XPoint and other technologies, profiles of Continue reading “New Report: Emerging Memories Take Off”

Microchip’s Answer to Emerging Memories

Press Photo of two 8-pin mini-DIPs with Microchip logoMicrochip Technology is now shipping a memory chip that has been designed to provide the most popular features of emerging memory chips without using any non-standard semiconductor technologies.  It’s as fast as an SRAM with the nonvolatility of an EEPROM.

Readers may recall that Tom Coughlin and I recently updated Continue reading “Microchip’s Answer to Emerging Memories”

Emerging Memory Market to Hit $36 Billion by 2030

A compass dial overlaid on tp of a silicon wafer full of memory chipsThe Memory Guy is pleased to announce the release of a new report co-authored by Objective Analysis and Coughlin Associates named: Emerging Memories Find Their Direction.  In this report we show that emerging memories, MRAM, ReRAM, 3D XPoint, and other technologies are well on their way to reach $36 billion of combined revenues by 2030.

The report provides invaluable guidance to Continue reading “Emerging Memory Market to Hit $36 Billion by 2030”

New Report: Emerging Memories Find Their Direction

A compass dial overlaid on tp of a silicon wafer full of memory chipsThis year emerging memories are getting a taste of the healthy market that lies ahead.  Stand-alone MRAM is being accepted in a broader range of applications, 3D XPoint memory is finally shipping in DIMMs, and embedded MRAM has moved from prototypes into mass production.  All signs point to important growth.

The Memory Guy is pleased to announce that Objective Analysis and Coughlin Associates have joined forces to update our study of the emerging memory market in a new Continue reading “New Report: Emerging Memories Find Their Direction”

Hprobe’s Vote for MRAM

Hprobe Perpendicular Magnetic Field UnitHprobe: a test equipment manufacturer based in Grenoble France, has cast its vote for MRAM to succeed in the emerging memory battle.  It has created a piece of production test equipment dedicated to MRAM technology.

The company has developed a new perpendicular magnetic generator module that allows Continue reading “Hprobe’s Vote for MRAM”

Podcast: Storage Developer Conference 2018 – Emerging Memories

SDC 2018 LogoAlmost one year ago Tom Coughlin and The Memory Guy presented the findings of our first emerging memories report at the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) Storage Developers Conference (SDC).  The podcast of this presentation has just been made available on the SNIA website.

In the podcast, titled “The Long and Winding Road to Persistent Memories,” Tom and I reviewed leading emerging memory technologies as we had surveyed them for our report.

This is a highly visual presentation, so I would recommend following along with the slides, which can also be downloaded from the SNIA SDC website at HERE.  That same page combines the slides and the podcast into a video, so if you’re able to, it might be  a good idea to watch the video.  If you’re driving as your listening to it, though, then please use the podcast instead!

In the time since that podcast was recorded Tom and I have updated the report to a 2019 edition, which can be Continue reading “Podcast: Storage Developer Conference 2018 – Emerging Memories”

Emerging Memory Report Updated

Tom Coughlin and I are proud to announce that we have released an update of our popular emerging memory report.  This report, titled Emerging Memories Ramp Up, covers all leading emerging memory technologies from PCM and 3D XPoint through MRAM and ReRAM to less-known types like carbon nanotubes and polymeric FRAMs.

Anyone who makes or uses memory chips, or who is involved in this ecosystem as an investor or tool supplier needs to read and understand this study to prepare for one of the biggest changes in the history of the chip market.  The report’s wealth of information will allow companies to make strategic plans to gain a competitive edge.

The report’s forecast model has determined that the emerging memory market will grow to $20 billion by 2029 largely by displacing today’s less efficient Continue reading “Emerging Memory Report Updated”

MRAMs to Power Cell Phones

Spin i Reversed Below the EquatorThe Memory Guy today became aware of a significant breakthrough in magnetic memory technologies (MRAM) that could prove to be a big bonus for mobile applications.  These memories could be used to generate power as well as to store data.

Scientists have only recently become aware of an oversight stemming from the fact that nearly all spin magnetics research has been performed in the northern hemisphere.  Just as the water in a drain rotates counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere but clockwise in the southern hemisphere, the Coriolis Effect dictates that magnetic spin has the opposite sense above the equator as below.

This surprise finding was made when researchers from Stüdpfalz University of Blindman’s Bluff, Iowa, brought samples of an STT MRAM they had developed to the Magnetic Island and City of Townsville Metropolitan University in Queensland, Australia, where researchers have been producing similar magnetic memories below the equator.  Until that moment neither team had thought to question the Continue reading “MRAMs to Power Cell Phones”

Memory Sightings at ISSCC

ISSCC LogoThis week the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) was held in San Francisco.  What was there?  The Memory Guy will tell you!

NAND Flash

There were three NAND flash papers, one each from Toshiba, Samsung, and Western Digital Corp. (WDC).

Toshiba 96-layer 1Tb QLC NANDToshiba described a 96-layer QLC 1.33 terabit chip.  Like the chip that Toshiba presented last year, this one uses CUA, which Toshiba calls “Circuit Under Array” although Micron, who originated the technology, says that CUA stands for “CMOS Under Array.”  Toshiba improved the margins between the cells by extending the gate threshold ranges below zero, a move that forced them to re-think the sense amplifiers.  They also implemented a newer, faster, lower-error way to Continue reading “Memory Sightings at ISSCC”