Samsung makes new push for phase change memory

Chipmakers Samsung and Numonyx have launched a new effort to develop phase change memory chips.

The two companies said that they would be working on the development of hardware and software which would allow companies to transition to phase change memory hardware in devices such as mobile handsets, embedded systems and high-performance computing hardware.

Phase change memory has been targeted by many chipmakers as an eventual replacement for flash memory due to its faster performance and low energy consumption.

The chips store data by changing the physical state of a small chalcogenide glass cell.

The new project intends to help developers better adapt their current designs to take advantage of the phase change chips.

The companies plan to develop both hardware and software to help integrate phase change memory.

"Our joint efforts with Numonyx will enable a more secure path for introducing [phase change memory] into the mobile environment," said SeiJin Kim, vice president of mobile memory technology planning and enabling for Samsung Electronics.

"We anticipate that PCM will eventually be a major addition to our family of memory products, one that will nicely compliment our other mobile memory solutions and ultimately increase our leadership in the industry."