SoftBank and Intel's ZAM memory project wins Japanese government subsidy

SAIMEMORY, a SoftBank subsidiary working with Intel, announced that Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization has selected its Z-Angle Memory technology project for government subsidies that may cover a large share of development costs. ZAM is designed as a power-efficient alternative to high-bandwidth memory, the standard solution for AI workloads. The project was selected under NEDO's Post-5G Infrastructure Enhancement research and development program. The technology builds on DRAM stacking and bonding techniques developed by Intel through US government-backed research. SoftBank established SAIMEMORY in 2024 to commercialize such architectures, with Intel as a technical partner and RIKEN supporting evaluation and system-level integration. Unlike conventional HBM, which uses stacked and bonded dies, ZAM proposes a vertical memory architecture with a non-contact interconnect between memory layers. SAIMEMORY claims this design could deliver higher effective density, increased bandwidth, and around 40 percent lower power consumption than traditional HBM. The NEDO-supported program is expected to run for approximately 3.5 years. SAIMEMORY plans to invest around 8 billion yen, or roughly 5 million dollars, through fiscal 2027 to develop working prototypes, with mass production targeted around 2029. The consortium backing the program includes SoftBank, Fujitsu, RIKEN, and the Development Bank of Japan. Hideya Yamaguchi, president and CEO of SAIMEMORY, said the selection represents a milestone in demonstrating Japan-originated next-generation memory technology.