Ever growing volumes of data to be stored and accessed, and advancing process technologies for sophisticated control of deposition and etch in complex stacks of new materials, are creating a window of opportunity for an emerging variety of next-generation non-volatile memory technologies. While flash memory goes vertical for higher densities, resistive RAM and spin-transfer magnetic RAM technologies are moving towards commercial manufacture for initial applications in niches that demand a different mix of speed, power and endurance than flash or SRAM. This article delves into some of the topics that will be addressed at SEMICON West 2015.