Emerging Applications Drive the Need for New Memory Technologies

I recently sat down with G. Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSIresearch, to discuss why the industry is moving to new memory solutions and what strategies are being implemented to alleviate the memory bottleneck. This was a follow-on to a discussion we had late last year about memory technology inflections and the new manufacturing challenges being created.

In my latest conversation with Dan, we discuss how emerging trends in IoT, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, smart vehicles and Industry 4.0 are creating huge demand for memory and require major advances in silicon technology. The amount of data generated from these trends can potentially dwarf that of existing applications. Exemplifying this is the autonomous vehicle. Data actually controls the self-driving car and relies on information collected in real-time from a complex and dynamic 3D environment. This data must be continually analyzed and stored, putting enormous demand on memory.

Along with the need for more robust storage technology, the industry is looking at different system-level design approaches to maximize memory and computing performance for specific applications. Dan and I discussed this topic among a range of issues and solutions, and I invite you to view the video of our conversation below. While navigating the path towards new memories is challenging, the emerging applications they can enable are extremely exciting.