this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2025
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Why don't Intel make DRAM? (piefed.zip)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by 1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi@piefed.zip to c/pcmasterrace@lemmy.world
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I heard the DRAM shortage has started affecting PC sales, and I would think that it would be hurting Intel's bottom line.

I remember hearing Intel was looking for customers for its fabs, so I suppose they have some capacity sitting idle.

Why not use some of that capacity to make DRAM themselves? If they can make CPUs running at multi-gigahertz and contains DRAM controllers, surely DDR5 memory is not out of their reach?

Intel can use up their excess capacities, making currently high-priced DRAM for profit, gain goodwill for rescuing the PC market, which in turn will sell more Intel CPUs as well. Sounds like a win to me. What do you think?

Edit: I know nothing about semiconductor manufacturing so feel free to tell me how Intel's process is not suitable for making DRAM, or any other reason why it would not be smart for them to do that.

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[–] tal@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago

Intel can use up their excess capacities, making currently high-priced DRAM for profit, gain goodwill for rescuing the PC market, which in turn will sell more Intel CPUs as well. Sounds like a win to me. What do you think?

searches

It sounds like they are, in fact, looking into making DRAM. Just that they're interested in making better DRAM for AI applications.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/intel-and-softbank-collaborate-on-power-efficient-hbm-substitute-for-ai-data-centers-says-report

American chip giant Intel has partnered with Japanese tech and investment powerhouse SoftBank to build a stacked DRAM substitute for HBM. According to Nikkei Asia, the two industry behemoths set up Saimemory to build a prototype based on Intel technology and patents from Japanese academia, including the University of Tokyo. The company is targeting a completed prototype and mass production viability assessment by 2027, with an end goal of commercialization before the end of the decade.

Most AI processors use HBM or high-bandwidth memory chips, which are perfect for temporarily storing the massive amount of data that AI GPUs process. However, these ICs are complex to manufacture and are relatively expensive. Aside from that, they get hot pretty quickly and require relatively more power. The partnership aims to solve this by stacking DRAM chips and then figuring out a way to wire them more efficiently. By doing so, the stacked DRAM chip’s power consumption is halved versus a similar HBM chip.

If successful, SoftBank says that it wants to have priority for the supply of these chips. At the moment, only three companies produce the latest HBM chips: Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron. The insatiable demand for AI chips means that HBM supply can be hard to get by, so Saimemory aims to corner the market with its substitute, at least for Japanese data centers. This will also be the first time that Japan aims to become a major memory chip supplier in over 20 years.

I suppose if they can make better AI-oriented DRAM than the Big Three and make enough of it to satisfy AI demand at some point, that might make the Big Three redirect some of their output back to DIMMs.