The future of AI depends on memory innovation.

That was the clear message from a recent conversation between Thomas Rueckes, CEO of FMC, and Jean‑René Lèquepeys, Deputy Director and CTO of CEA‑Leti, recorded during Leti Innovation Days in Grenoble in June 2025.

While compute power has advanced rapidly, data‑intensive applications at the edge and in the cloud are increasingly limited by memory. Traditional solutions struggle to deliver the required combination of density, speed, non‑volatility, and energy efficiency.

Building next‑generation memory together

In the video, Thomas Rueckes explains how FMC and CEA‑Leti are collaborating on a new class of non‑volatile FeRAM‑based memory, built on hafnium‑oxide technology. FMC’s CACHE+ chiplet is being developed as a high‑density, low‑power memory that addresses the needs of modern AI workloads.

“Our company is working very closely with CEA‑Leti on the development of a high‑density, non‑volatile, hafnium‑oxide based FeRAM ‘CACHE+’ chiplet for energy‑efficient Edge and Cloud AI products,” Rueckes says. “It’s a great partnership and we are working closely together as one team with Leti.”

A European pilot line for advanced memories

Jean‑René Lèquepeys highlights that this work takes place within the FAMES pilot line, part of the European Chips Act. Through this initiative, CEA‑Leti is driving several advanced memory technologies—including FeRAM—and transferring these innovations to industrial partners.

“An important partnership has been established with FMC on hafnium‑oxide based FeRAM memories,” he explains. “This partnership is essential because memory is the bottleneck of the AI era. Europe’s ability to become a leader in semiconductor innovation must also take memory into account.”

Learning from past success

FMC looks to CEA‑Leti’s track record for inspiration.
Rueckes points to the successful transfer of SOI (Silicon on Insulator) technology to European foundries like STMicroelectronics, which became a global success story.

“And I hope that in our collaboration we can do the same again with hafnium‑oxide based FeRAM technology,” he concludes.

Watch the video below to hear more about how FMC and CEA‑Leti are shaping the future of memory for AI.