- 512GB DRAM sounds huge, but does not contain breathing for consumer availability
- The 3D 3D 3D layers of Neo Layers High, but the price and practicality are still clear
- AI and Enterprise systems will get speed, regular users probably not
The thrust of neo semiconductor in the 3D X-DRAM memory marks an ambitious attempt to rethink the DRAM design for AI and the high performance computer era.
Although promises, stacked layers, improved bandwidth and reduced energy consumption) are impressive, practicality and consumer accessibility of these technologies remain open to scrutiny.
With the company projecting that its most advanced modules could reach densities of up to 512 GB, it is difficult not to ask: Who is this memory really?
Complex architectures with limited impact on the consumer
In the nucleus of the neo approach there is an architecture stacked vertically that mimics the 3D Nand structure.
In Neo’s own words, the matrix is ”segmented in multiple sectors by vertical clefts”, with “line layers connected through stairs structures.”
The company compares its X-DRAM 3D density with the 48GB of the plain dram of the current node 0a and claims to reach 512 GB, but the implication that such capabilities will be reduced in conventional consumption products in the best case.
Concept test chips are still in the early stages. Neo is currently developing a simplest 1T0C architecture version, with the most complex and most promising 1T1C version planned by 2026.
The 1T1C variant uses IGZO transistors paired with a cylindrical dielectric condenser of Alto K. promises an improved retention time, it is informed beyond 450 seconds, and admits to stack up to 128 layers.
With more refinements, including the addition of 5 Nm thick spacers to reduce parasite capacitance, neo states that the stack could exceed 512 layers.
The 3T0C design, which incorporates Igzo dual layers, is oriented to computer and memory applications.
Even so, Neo’s statements about the elimination of the need for TSV and allowing even bus widths up to 32k bits to increase eyebrows.
Such a bandwidth sounds transformative, especially compared to the projected 2K BIT BIT width of HBM4, but expanding this level of performance in real world systems is a non -trivial task.
From a broader perspective, the DRAM market has not changed significantly in terms of cost by GB in the last decade. Despite some fluctuations, the downward trend slowed considerably after 2012.
One might expect Macbook Pro, for example, to send much more ram by default today than a decade ago, but that has not happened.
Even with some price drops, comparisons DDR3 vs. DDR5 show a modest improvement, advances have not been revolutionary.
Basic products prices can fluctuate, but the general curve has flattened. The forecasts suggest that we can be close to a low point before another ascent.
So, although 3D X-DRAM can offer a larger and faster memory by 2026, it is unlikely that these 512 GB modules are available for consumers in the short term.
Most likely, such capacity and speed will be reserved for AI servers and business systems, instead of daily laptops or computers.