Intel is co-developing new Z-Angle Memory to compete with HBM used in AI data centers — vertically-stacked memory touts 2 to 3x more capacity, greater bandwidth, and half the power consumption

Intel and a SoftBank subsidiary, Saimemory, have signed a new collaborative agreement to advance the development and manufacture of a new type of vertical-stacked memory known as Z-Angle Memory, or ZAM. This next-generation memory is designed to compete against High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) used in the latest AI data centers, but offers higher capacity, greater bandwidth, and lower power consumption.

Although owned by Softbank, Saimemory was a joint development between Intel and Softbank. The two companies started building a prototype of this new memory standard in mid-2025, leveraging Intel’s packaging technologies and key Japanese patents. The move brings Intel back into the memory market for the first time since the 1980s. It’s also the first time a Japanese company has attempted to produce cutting-edge memory in decades. Japan was a major memory manufacturing region in the ‘80s, but the rise of Korean and Taiwanese manufacturing saw it fall out of favor.

As the world scrambles for more memory, both Softbank and Intel see a clear opportunity to provide it.

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What is ZAM?

ZAM is designed to offer two to three times the capacity of HBM, operating at as little as half the power, while being up to 60% cheaper to produce, as reported by Nikkei. Saimemory will try to hit these lofty goals by vertically stacking more DRAM and using Intel’s Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) to reduce latency between the individual chips.

ZAM is built on the foundational work Intel completed as part of the Advanced Memory Technology R&D program, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration through the Sandia National Laboratory. They recognized that HBM has impressive bandwidth, but trades that for lower capacity and weaker power efficiency. Using Intel’s new bonding techniques and novel DRAM stacking techniques allows for all the benefits of HBM, without those traditional downsides.

“Intel’s Next Generation DRAM Bonding (NGDB) initiative has demonstrated a novel memory architecture and revolutionary assembly methodology that significantly increases DRAM performance, reduces power consumption, and optimizes memory costs,” said Dr. Joshua Fryman, Intel Fellow and CTO of Intel Government Technologies. “Standard memory architectures aren’t meeting AI needs, so NGDB defined a whole new approach to accelerate us through the next decade.”

In developing the NGDB for ZAM, Intel and Sandia had to design a new stacking approach and a different way of organizing the DRAM chips. Early prototypes confirmed it was possible to increase capacity through new stacking techniques, while recent developments have demonstrated that the necessary high performance is there. That’s why Intel and partners are now able to move forward with developing the first real prototypes of Z-Angle memory.

Gwen Voskuilen, principal member of technical staff at Sandia, said, “This is an exciting technology that we anticipate will lead to a wider adoption of higher bandwidth memories in systems that are currently unable to take advantage of high bandwidth memory due to its limited capacity and power constraints.”

The long game

This venture isn’t designed to suddenly bring new DDR5 or HBM production online, though. It’s looking beyond what’s currently available to data center builders and hoping to provide what they might need next.

Saimemory is slated to produce its first ZAM prototype sometime in 2027, with plans to develop a mass production line for the new memory by 2029.

Already, other firms are backing the project, showcasing its impact and interest beyond the initial parties to the venture. Other companies cooperating on the design, development, and manufacture of ZAM include Japanese IT hardware and services firm Fujitsu; the recent Micron acquisition, PowerChip Semiconductor Manufacturing; Shinko Electric Industries; and the University of Tokyo.

The various Japanese institutions involved highlight the importance of this venture to Softbank. In its release, it said, “SAIMEMORY's development of next-generation memory technologies represents one of SoftBank's key initiatives to support next-generation social infrastructure.”

“By collaborating with Intel and other technology partners and research institutions in Japan and abroad, SoftBank will contribute to the creation of advanced, homegrown semiconductor technologies, and to the strengthening of Japan's global competitiveness.”

Alongside potentially rebuilding Japan as a key player in the memory industry, Softbank appears to see key technologies like next-generation memory as a core component of building aspects of the future that go beyond the raw hardware itself.

In the same way that access to memory, silicon, and rare earth materials are increasingly considered an important asset for strategic defence, there’s an argument to be made that they’re also keystones in developing the components for social change in the decades to come, and the partnerships that will enable it.

Intel and Softbank want to be a part of powering that.