Faster Than RAM With The Price Tag Of Flash
Earlier this month, IBM announced a more efficient way to use phase-change memory (PCM). This isn’t just another lab headline — it’s a meaningful step toward memory technology that could eventually outperform both traditional RAM and NAND flash. PCM is a type of non-volatile storage that works by changing the physical state of chalcogenide glass between amorphous and crystalline forms. That state change represents binary data, similar in concept to rewritable optical media, but operating at electronic speeds.
Put simply, instead of storing charge like flash does, PCM stores structure. That distinction matters. Charge-based memory wears out faster, is sensitive to leakage, and becomes harder to scale as transistor sizes shrink. Structural state-change memory doesn’t have those same limitations, which is why researchers keep coming back to it whenever they talk about the “post-NAND” future.
Until recently, PCM’s biggest limitations were cost and density. IBM researchers have now demonstrated a method that stores three bits per cell instead of one by carefully controlling heat and observing how each cell behaves at different resistance levels. Haris Pozidis, IBM Manager of Non-Volatile Memory Research, summed it up clearly: “The jump is significant because at this density, the cost of PCM will be significantly less than DRAM and closer to flash.” That’s the inflection point everyone has been waiting for.
The implications go beyond raw storage. PCM could realistically sit between RAM and flash as a new class of “storage-class memory.” That means faster boot times, near-instant application launches, and systems that don’t forget their state when powered off. Data centers, AI workloads, and large-scale databases are especially sensitive to latency. Even small improvements in memory performance compound into serious cost and performance gains at scale.
Durability is another area where PCM stands out. Typical NAND flash supports a few thousand write cycles before degradation becomes a concern. PCM has demonstrated endurance in the millions of cycles. That kind of longevity changes how infrastructure can be designed — fewer replacements, less redundancy engineering, and more predictable lifecycle planning.
It’s also worth noting that technologies like PCM tend to arrive quietly before they arrive everywhere. We’ve seen this pattern before with SSDs replacing spinning disks, and with NVMe slowly overtaking SATA. First it shows up in enterprise gear, then high-end systems, and eventually it becomes normal. Chances are, when PCM finally becomes mainstream, most users won’t even realize they’re using it — they’ll just notice that everything feels faster and more responsive.
Our partners at Nexcopy follow developments like PCM closely because shifts in memory technology eventually reshape duplication systems, controller behavior, and long-term data handling strategies. Storage media evolves. The need for reliable data integrity, controlled distribution, and predictable device behavior doesn’t go away — it becomes more important.
