Stacking memory chips vertically lets data travel through microscopic arteries

To keep up with the demands of artificial intelligence, chipmakers like SK Hynix have abandoned the flat layouts of traditional computing. Instead, they are stacking memory chips into high-rise towers connected by through-silicon vias—microscopic vertical wires that pierce through layers of silicon just 100 micrometers thick. These pillars allow data to travel at a staggering 2 terabytes per second, which is forty times faster than the memory found in a standard desktop computer.