Intel sets expand non-volatile memory production capacity with up to $5.5 billion worth of investment over the next few years in a manufacturing facility in Dalian, China.
The facility expansion, part of a "global multi-source supply strategy," will find use in the production of non-volatile memory products based on 3D NAND and 3DXPoint technologies. The Dalian plant has been making 65nm products for Intel since 2010, with "amazing results" and "operational excellence," and should start producing new products from H2 2016.
3D XPoint (aka "Optane") is an Intel-Micron memory co-development. The technology features a transistor-less cross point architecture built in a "3D checkerboard." Memory cells sit at the intersection of word lines and bit lines, allowing the individual addressing of cells. The result is data written and read in small sizes, leading to faster and more efficient read/write processes.
According to Intel such products can help customers process larger data sets in real time, allowing for faster fraud detection analysis and increased performance on complex tasks such as genetic analylsis and disease tracking.