By
Tiernan Ray
Interesting article this week by Bob Wheeler in the venerable Microprocessor Report newsletter, in which he examines the “3D Xpoint” memory-chip technology developed by Intel (INTC) and Micron Technology (MU). (Subscription required to read Microprocessor Report articles.) Intel’s been shipping 3D Xpoint for about a year now, in the form of “solid-state drives,” or SSDs, labeled Optane, which serve as faster storage for a computer than a spinning magnetic disk drive. The promise, stated by Intel and Micron back in the summer of 2015, was always for Xpoint to someday be not only a faster storage medium, but also a form of “main memory” for computers, perhaps even replacing DRAM chips. That goal is still very much the intention at Intel, based on my conversation last month at Intel headquarters with Intel memory-chip executive Rob Crooke. Wheeler’s focus is the next stage of things, where the Xpoint chips will connect to the computer not through the PCIe socket, where disks and SSDs typically connect, but through the "memory bus,” the same way DRAM connects to the microprocessor. The project is code-named “Apache Pass” and is currently being shown to select developers, writes Wheeler. First general availability is expected next year, in the form of dual in-line memory modules, or DIMMs, the same way DRAM commonly is configured, with multiple chips soldered on a circuit board that plugs into the motherboard of a computer. Apache Pass, notes Wheeler, doesn’t replace DRAM at this point—it’s not fast enough. But putting Xpoint in a DIMM makes it faster than SSDs. To use the chips, servers will also have to have a new microprocessor from Intel, dubbed Cascade Lake, due out this year, a requirement that Wheeler suggests could somewhat dampen enthusiasm. Intel has a big lead at this point, being the only vendor even close to shipping “new memory technology” in server computers. Competitors, he notes, have fallen into the camp of Samsung Electronics (005930KS), which is shipping something called “Gen-Z,” a version of NAND flash chips that are faster than usual. Those parts, however, don’t connect to the processor like normal memory, as Intel intends for Xpoint. As Wheeler points out, we still don’t know what Xpoint really is: Intel and Micron have never divulged the underlying technology, except to state that it has no transistors, as DRAM and NAND and most chips do. Wheeler speculates it is "likely a type of phase-change memory (PCM)." Micron, I would note, told analysts last week at its annual meeting that it will ship its own 3D Xpoint products next year, without disclosing details. Intel shares today are up 66 cents, or 1.4%, at $49.42. Sign up to Review & Preview, a new daily email from Barron’s. Every evening we’ll review the news that moved markets during the day and look ahead to what it means for your portfolio in the morning.
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