Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Partners with Intel and SoftBank to Develop AI Memory Alternative

Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (PSMC) has joined forces with major technology players, including Intel and SoftBank, in a collaborative effort to develop an alternative memory solution to high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for artificial intelligence applications. The initiative aims to reduce reliance on existing memory technologies and strengthen supply chain resilience for next-generation AI systems.

Under the new alliance, PSMC will work alongside partners to explore advanced memory architectures that can meet the escalating bandwidth and performance requirements of large-scale AI workloads. The collaboration also includes efforts to accelerate research and development, broaden manufacturing capabilities, and pursue commercialisation pathways for emerging memory technologies.

The push for alternatives to HBM comes as demand for memory with extremely high throughput continues to rise, particularly in data-intensive AI training and inference environments. Traditional HBM solutions are increasingly strained by such workloads, prompting companies across the semiconductor ecosystem to seek new approaches that deliver enhanced performance, scalability and efficiency.

PSMC’s involvement highlights a broader trend of foundries expanding their role beyond conventional wafer fabrication into strategic technology partnerships that target future markets. By contributing its manufacturing expertise and production capacity, PSMC is positioning itself as a key contributor to the evolving AI memory landscape.

Industry observers suggest that successful development of an HBM alternative could diversify the memory market and alleviate bottlenecks, providing AI developers and system builders with more choice and flexibility as they architect high-performance computing platforms.