Big margins inevitably attract competition. Micron Technology and its memory-chip peers are enjoying huge profits right now, but a start-up backed by Intel is hoping to disrupt the party.

Kepler Computing came out of stealth mode-when new companies intentionally avoid public attention-on Wednesday with an attention-grabbing assertion: that it can tackle the bottleneck of memory supply which is strangling the technology industry.

Not only does Kepler think that its memory chips can be superior to existing high-bandwidth memory-the advanced component used in artificial-intelligence hardware-but also that it can manufacture them with existing semiconductor manufacturing equipment rather than spending on hugely expensive lithography tools from ASML Holding.

Kepler relies on the use of ferroelectric materials, which can potentially read and write data at extremely low voltages, and 3-D stacking. Together, the start-up says those technologies mean it can fit more chips into a fixed area and shift the memory closer to the processor, allowing for higher bandwidth at a lower energy cost.

It's still a way off being a commercial reality. The company is only planning to ship its first high-bandwidth memory samples later this year, before ramping up production in Singapore next year, followed by U.S. production in 2028. Other innovative memory technologies have failed before, such as Intel's Optane business.

However, Kepler has some significant backing. It has raised $468 million from investors including Intel, GlobalFoundries and Advanced Micro Devices. The Department of Commerce committed up to $245 million in July to support its research and development. And there's plenty of commercial interest in anything which can tackle soaring memory costs.

Micron shares were down 3.6% in morning trading Thursday. That's probably driven by rising bond yields and expectations of an interest-rate hike from the Federal Reserve weighing on tech-Micron is a volatile stock having risen more than sixfold in the past 12 months. But Kepler's announcement is a reminder the memory market won't be stable forever.