A drive circuit and method for parallel programming a plurality of phase change memory (PCM) cells includes a first signal generator device for generating a slow ramping signal; an adiabatic computing element receives the slow ramping signal and responsively generates an output slow ramping signal in adiabatic fashion, the output slow ramping signal applied to the single wordline conductor associated with each PCM cell of the plurality of cells being programmed in a time interval. Each PCM cell of the plurality being programmed is connected to a respective bitline conductor. A second signal generator generates, during the time interval, one or more bitline signals for input to a respective bitline conductor of a respective PCM cell. A state of the applied slow ramping output signal and the one or more bitline signals during the time interval governs a programmed state of the PCM cell.