In January of this year, Intel and Micron jointly announced that after the completion of the third-generation 3D NAND Flash research and development, both parties will start their respective R&D roads, and emphasized that the second-generation products jointly developed by the two parties are 64-layer 3D NAND Flash. The three generations will be able to stack 96 layers. Of course, this also means that after the 96th layer of 3D NAND Flash product development, Intel will officially break with Micron.
So, is the joint statement of Micron and Intel on the 21st the end of the 'last cooperation' between the two parties?
Initial cooperation
The cooperation between Intel and Micron in storage can be traced back to 2006. Both sides have established IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) to operate factories in Singapore and Utah. The first products produced by IM Flash are 72nm NAND. First time 'break up'
In 2010, the relationship between Micron and Intel became tense. The dispute between the two companies was about Intel's contribution to IM Flash Singapore. The Micron CEO accused Intel of not providing the necessary funds to upgrade this factory in Singapore. Subsequently, Intel Michael Chen, manager of the Embedded Device Sales and Ultra Mobile Division in the Asia-Pacific region, resigned. Michael Chen is an important figure in Intel’s partnership with other companies in the Asia Pacific region.
At that time, industry insiders predicted that Intel intended to stop the operation of IM Flash and ended the cooperation with Micron Technology.
In 2012, Intel sold the shares of most IM Flash factories to Micron, and only retained Lehi as a stronghold. Since then, both parties have started to build their own production lines.
This also confirmed the speculation of the industry, the first time the two 'break up'.
This 'break up' can be analyzed from the perspective of both market attributes. Intel is only willing to use flash memory for its own SSDs, and Micron wants to participate in global competition and sell flash memory to more customers, especially mobile phone manufacturers. This is a 'breakup' between the two parties. The main reason. Set micronet editors to 'break up' quoted, indicating that the two are not completely broken.
Deceptive abuse
In 2015, Intel announced that it will cooperate with Micron Technology to develop 3D NAND flash memory chips based on 3D NAND and 3D XPoint technology. According to the announcement, 3D XPoint chips will be 1000 times faster than existing NAND chips.
In the same year, Intel announced that it would spend up to $5.5 billion to transform its microprocessor factory in Dalian, China (Fab 68 fab), into a factory for manufacturing NAND memory chips. Insiders said that Intel is gradually reducing its reliance on IM Flash.
Repartition after the change of heart
In 2017, Intel and Micron jointly announced that the IM Flash B60 fab has completed the expansion project.
However, at the beginning of 2018, the two parties announced that after the completion of the third-generation 3D NAND Flash R & D, will open their own R & D. According to industry sources, Intel is likely to license its technology to the violet, in order to terminate the NAND field with Micron After the cooperation, the company quickly produced 3D NAND flash memory chips in China. After all, the investment in the USD 5.5 billion Dalian plant is not a small amount.
This time the breakup is Intel and Micron's 'complete split'?
the answer is negative.
Intel stated in the press release that the two companies will continue to jointly develop and manufacture 3D XPoint at the IMFT joint venture facility in Lehi, Utah, which is now fully focused on the production of 3D XPoint memory.
Let's take a look at popular 3D XPoint, a new form of non-volatile solid-state storage that offers much higher performance and durability than NAND flash. 3D XPoint is not based on electronic storage. Like flash and DRAM, it does not use transistors. It is also not a resistive RAM (ReRAM) or memristor. Therefore, storage experts believe that 3D XPoint is a phase change memory because Micron previously developed this technology and its features are very similar to 3D XPoint.
For an example to come together and feel the enticingness of the next 3D XPoint, Intel's first 3D XPoint SSD (P4800X) can perform at speeds of up to 16 IO or less queue read IOPS: 550000, write IOPS: 500000. Although Intel's Top NAND flash SSDs can achieve performance of 400,000 IOPS or more, but they can only be implemented at deeper queue depths.
However, at present, 3D XPoint is not as powerful as it is in theory. Its speed and durability are 1000 times that of NAND flash memory and it still remains in the theoretical stage. At present, it is not very ideal in terms of price. According to Gartner's prediction, at least until 2021, Intel and Micron's 'complete separation' cost more than NAND.
Therefore, the split between Intel and Micron is 3D NAND, and the cooperation of 3D XPoint technology will continue and the reason for continuing is that the ideal goal is not achieved. Intel and Micron believe that 3D Xpoint products can eventually replace the tradition in PCs and servers. Solid State Drives and DRAM.
With the same 3D Xpoint, Intel and Micron have different brands, Intel calls it Optane, Micron calls it QuantX. If both break up in 3D Xpoint technology, it may become a complete break, it's not hard to imagine that Intel will launch at that time. Optane who specializes in personal computers, and Micron's QuantX will focus on servers.