PRESS RELEASE
SAIMEMORY Selected for NEDO Grant to Advance Commercialization of ZAM Next-Generation Memory
Series A funding also secured to accelerate development
April 22, 2026
SAIMEMORY Corp.
SAIMEMORY Corp. (“SAIMEMORY”), a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp., today announced that its next-generation memory technology development project, “Development of High-Density, High bandwidth, Low-Power ZAM (Z-Angle Memory)” (the “Project”), jointly promoted with Intel K.K. (“Intel”), has been selected under the research theme “Development of Innovative Memory Manufacturing Technology with High Density, High bandwidth, and Low Power Consumption” by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). This theme is part of the “Post-5G Information and Communication System Infrastructure Enhancement R&D Project / Development of Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (Subsidy)” publicly solicited by NEDO*1
In the Project, SAIMEMORY will serve as the lead organization, with Intel participating as a joint contractor and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (“RIKEN”) as a collaborative research partner, to advance research and development toward the practical implementation of next-generation memory technology.
SAIMEMORY, a Japan-based company, was established to bring ZAM memory to market and to license this technology to AI infrastructure providers and other memory manufacturers. The Project will demonstrate that ZAM memory delivers lower power consumption, higher performance, and greater density than existing high-bandwidth memory solutions. This will be enabled by the world's first*2 adoption of a vertical (Z) build architecture combined with Inductive I/O, which enhances thermal performance while overcoming stacking limitations inherent in conventional memory technologies. As a result, the Project will simultaneously expand memory capacity, increase data transfer bandwidth, and reduce power consumption, supporting the continued evolution of next-generation AI computing infrastructure.
In addition, SAIMEMORY completed its Series A funding round, with Fujitsu Limited, Development Bank of Japan Inc., RIKEN, and SoftBank Corp. as investors, to accelerate its research and development activities toward early commercialization.
Hideya Yamaguchi, President & CEO of SAIMEMORY, commented:
“We view the selection of this Project under the NEDO program as a significant milestone in demonstrating Japan-originated next-generation memory technology to the world. ZAM represents an innovative architecture that achieves both the performance and power efficiency required in the AI era and in anticipation of the accelerating AI supercycle. Through collaboration with Intel, RIKEN, and our investors, as well as other domestic and international partners, we aim to contribute to strengthening the global competitiveness of Japan’s semiconductor industry.”
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For details regarding the project scope and selected theme, please refer to the official NEDO announcement.
https://www.nedo.go.jp/koubo/IT3_100361.html - Based on SAIMEMORY research, as of April 22, 2026.
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