- As AI data centers consume an ever-increasing amount of RAM chips, researchers are looking for cheaper, more scalable alternatives
- imec research, which is considered by many to be the answer, although technical challenges remain
- Two published studies using ferroelectric materials show capacitors essentially capable of replicating modern DRAM functionality
It’s no secret that AI has affected much of the world, with many welcoming the introduction of a “smart” digital assistant, while others use it to speed up the more mundane tasks that previously required supervision.
On the flip side of the equation, some find their jobs redundant, others are forced to upskill or switch to different industries just to make a living in 2026.
However, there is one area that has been significantly affected, where the effect has perhaps been underestimated so far: the PC hardware industry.
DRAM for data centers first
The reason the PC hardware industry (and to a lesser extent the smartphone and game console industry) or any industry that uses fast RAM and NAND flash for its core functionality is affected is the overwhelming demand in data centers.
With billions of dollars in build-out and procurement budgets, the average consumer is unlikely to compete for memory with a data center built by hyperscalers, and for good reason: There’s simply too much money at stake here.
The problem for data centers, however, is different: despite consuming nearly 70% of all memory produced by 2026, resulting in the worst memory supply crunch in 15 years, things are only expected to get worse even as demand continues to grow unabated.
With memory giant Micron telling consumers to wait until 2028 before they can expect any relief in their segment, and SSDs heading down the same path thanks to a similar situation when it comes to high-density NAND flash-based storage, AI data centers are also looking for a memory breakthrough that could allow for cheaper, faster memory in the near future to better handle their needs.
However, European chip research lab imec appears to be working on an answer. At the 2026 IEEE/JSAP Symposium on VLSI Technology & Circuits, the event showcased two major advances that could enable new ferroelectric memory to become mainstream over the next decade as it tries to address the AI-centric memory shortage with a solution better suited to data center consumers.
At the heart of the current breakthroughs is a ferroelectric capacitor that operates at low voltage, enabling a large number of write cycles and holding charge well, making it a potentially viable replacement for traditional DRAM-based memory.
The other is a transistor that they’ve managed to stack vertically, enabling a denser NAND flash-style storage design, while adding a back-gate modification to address memory erasure issues.
FeRAM is not a new concept; It was first conceived in 1952 and holds enormous promise, although most researchers agree. It had limited interest until recently, but a world spending billions on AI data centers, with memory and storage becoming increasingly scarce resources, has brought it back to the forefront, although most of its gains still keep it confined to laboratory conditions.
“This work shows how imec’s interdisciplinary expertise, from materials science to advanced 3D integration, enables us to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in memory technology,” noted program director at imec, Maarten Rosmeulen. “We are exploring multiple paths toward the memory solutions that will be needed to sustain the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications.”
It should be noted that imec does not operate in a vacuum; It shares its research with hundreds of industry partners, including chip designer Nvidia, photolithography system maker ASML, and tech giant TSMC.
Other industrial partners include Intel, Samsung, Micron, Qualcomm, AMD and Apple, indicating that their research could eventually be integrated into future memory offerings by several interested entities, including other hyperscalers.
Should imec’s research solve the modern data center conundrum by offering a cheaper, denser memory module using different materials, it could well spark a new AI-centric war for advanced storage and memory.
But for now it looks like it will take a long time to be production ready, with imec admitting that it “resolved the remaining challenges”, while reminding interested parties that the whole breakthrough was still a proof of concept and still in the research stage.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
