Intel & Micron Create New Memory That’s 1,000x Faster Than NAND

Power users and technology enthusiasts rejoiced recently when Intel and Micron announced they had already started production on a new type of non-volatile memory called 3D Xpoint. The companies note the memory is a “major breakthrough,” represents the “first new memory category in more than 25 years,” and is up to 1,000 times faster than the NAND memory now found in SSDs and other flash-based devices. 3D Xpoint memory is much denser, the companies report, in that memory cells are built using new materials and it uses a “cross point architecture” that does not involve traditional transistors. The companies say the architecture of the cells resembles a three-dimensional checkerboard, with memory cells at the intersections that can be individually addressed, allowing for faster reads and writes of small chunks of data. Wafers of the memory are now in production, and the technology should lead to new products.