Taiwan, Intel to Develop Super-Efficient Memory Chips

Taiwan and Intel will jointly develop new computer memory products within five years, Intel’s chief technology officer Justin Rattner announced on Dec. 6.

“The partnership’s initial project will focus on super-fast but extremely energy-efficient memory technologies for future ultra-mobile devices such as Ultrabooks, tablets and smartphones as well as tomorrow’s exascale and cloud mega-data centers,” Rattner said.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) will contribute $10 million while Intel will contribute $5 million to fund the joint project.

ITRI will focus on developing 3D IC technology to make memory chips work better with microprocessors or to integrate memory chips with microprocessors, said Wu Cheng-wen, general director of ITRI’s Information and Communications Research Laboratories.

“With the many patented technologies from Intel and ITRI’s solid 3D IC research and development capabilities, this collaboration will enable the development of future memory technologies,” Wu said.

ITRI’s 3D IC technology for memory chips could effectively reduce the space required by hardware, enable faster data transmission and expand capacity to cope with the uptake of sleeker consumer electronic devices, said Wu.

The project will allow local memory chip makers to produce chips with greater value by using existing technologies without the need to invest massively to upgrade processing technologies, he added.