Meta has successfully reused old RAM in new servers by developing a custom bridge chip, significantly reducing electronic waste and cutting costs [1]. The performance of about 40% of Meta’s millions of servers is limited by a lack of memory, but the company has a surplus of older DIMMs from decommissioned servers, as RAM chips can last about twice as long as the rest of the machine [2]. To profit from this imbalance, Meta developed a custom Computer Express Link (CXL) chip, called Vistara, and associated software, to decouple older memory from server memory channels, enabling its reuse in new machines alongside their native memory [3]. Using the older RAM with the CXL interface doesn’t significantly affect performance — although it would have done if the older DIMMs were plugged straight into newer servers.

The current state of the market, with memory prices expected to double by the end of 2026 and a RAM shortage potentially lasting until 2027, makes this development particularly timely [4][5]. The Meta development may prove to be an efficient way forward, as alternatives such as using cheap Chinese chips may be frowned upon by governments [6].

Sources

  1. https://www.networkworld.com/article/4093752/server-memory-prices-could-double-by-2026-as-ai-demand-strains-supply.html
  2. https://www.computerworld.com/article/4161043/the-memory-shortage-appears-set-to-continue-through-2027.html
  3. https://aisystemcodesign.github.io/papers/isca26/vistara_camera_ready.pdf
  4. https://www.networkworld.com/article/4192382/cheap-chinese-chips-could-offer-way-out-of-ram-price-crisis-apple-suggests.html
  5. https://www.networkworld.com/
  6. https://www.networkworld.com/article/4192827/meta-reuses-old-ram-in-new-servers-with-custom-bridge-chip.html