future RAM chips

Many companies are working on non-volatile memory technologies with byte addressable, random access capability. They are expected to initially provide an alternative to flash memory and compete with DRAM chips in certain applications.

The flash memory in common use is non-volatile, but it must be written in blocks somewhat like disk sectors, which makes it slower. DRAM memory can be written one byte at a time, but loses its content without power. Both have drawbacks the industry would love to eliminate. New memory technologies are in various stages of development or implementation (see MRAM, NRAM, phase change memory and memristor).

A DRAM Replacement?

Any RAM technology that replaces flash memory will be a huge success. However, if a non-volatile technology eventually succeeds in replacing DRAM chips, the main memory used in computers, it will dramatically change the way software is written. All operating systems and applications are designed to continuously save data to the disk. When main memory finally "remembers," many data elements would reside in memory at all times. In addition, computers would always be "instant-on" and would not waste AC or battery power when idle.