Summary: Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) saw its stock gain 1.4% on Tuesday after revealing a collaboration with SAIMEMORY, a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp., to commercialize Z-Angle Memory (ZAM). The announcement came amid generally weak performance across the technology sector.
The partnership was formalized on February 2, 2026, and centers on advancing ZAM, a next-generation memory architecture designed for high capacity, high bandwidth, and reduced power consumption. The companies describe ZAM as a memory solution intended to improve processing performance in environments that demand large-scale model training and inference, including data centers and AI-focused computing workloads.
SAIMEMORY was established in December 2024 as a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank. Under the agreement, SAIMEMORY will draw on foundational technologies and technical expertise that have been validated by Intel’s Next Generation DRAM Bonding initiative. According to the timeline disclosed by the partners, the collaboration aims to produce prototypes by fiscal year 2027 and pursue commercialization by fiscal year 2029.
Intel framed the deal as a strategic effort to bolster its position in advanced memory technologies. SAIMEMORY’s development work is presented as part of SoftBank’s broader initiative to support next-generation social infrastructure and to strengthen Japan’s competitiveness in the global semiconductor landscape.
Technical origins for the effort are also noted in public descriptions of the collaboration: the ZAM work builds on research conducted under the Advanced Memory Technology program, which is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration through various national laboratories.
Market reaction was limited but positive for Intel’s shares on the day of the announcement, which the company and SAIMEMORY framed as a multi-year effort with staged milestones for prototype and commercial deployment.
Contextual note: The announcement emphasizes development timelines, technical validation via Intel initiatives, and linkage to national laboratory research programs. The partners specify target fiscal years for prototype and commercialization milestones but do not present those dates as guarantees.