Micron Technology, Inc. has raised the performance bar for SSDs. The company today announced its RealSSD C300 SSD, the industry's fastest for notebook and desktop PCs. Micron's new RealSSD C300 drive enables users to enjoy a more powerful and responsive computing experience including faster operating system (OS) boot and hibernate times, and speedier application load, data transfer and file copying.

"The C300 SSD not only delivers on all the inherent advantages of SSDs - improved reliability and lower power use - but also leverages a finely tuned architecture and high-speed ONFI 2.1 NAND to provide a whole new level of performance," said Dean Klein, vice president of memory system development at Micron.

When designing solid-state storage for enterprise applications, standard SLC NAND has been the technology of choice because of its reliability and endurance. But customers are often challenged on how to cost-effectively reach their capacity requirements. Micron Technology, Inc. is meeting customers' requirements by announcing today that it has leveraged its award-winning 34nm NAND process to manufacture an MLC Enterprise NAND device, which provides enterprise organizations a way to cost-effectively and reliably double their flash-based enterprise storage capacity (since MLC provides twice the capacity in the same die size as SLC). Micron's new MLC Enterprise NAND device achieves 30,000 write cycles - a 6x increase in endurance when compared to standard MLC NAND. And for enterprise applications that are more performance driven, Micron today also introduced a 34nm SLC Enterprise NAND device that achieves 300,000 write cycles - a 3x increase in endurance when compared to standard SLC NAND.

Additionally, leveraging the full performance capability of NAND, Micron's newest Enterprise NAND products also support the ONFI 2.1synchronous interface, delivering a 4- to 5x improvement in data transfer rates when compared to legacy NAND interfaces. Micron's 34nm Enterprise NAND portfolio includes a 32Gb MLC NAND chip and a 16Gb SLC NAND chip that can be configured into multi-die, single packages supporting densities up to 32GB MLC and 16GB SLC, respectively. Micron is now sampling its Enterprise NAND products with customers and controller manufacturers, and is expected to be in volume production in early 2010. For further explanation on Micron's Enterprise NAND products, visit Micron's Innovations blog to catch a video that describes how Micron leveraged its mature 34nm NAND process to achieve these levels of reliability.

Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. today announced the development of a new 3-bit-per-cell (3bpc) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND technology, leveraging their award-winning 34-nanometer (nm) NAND process. The chips are typically used in consumer storage devices such as flash cards and USB drives, where high density and cost-efficiency are paramount.

Designed and manufactured by IM Flash Technologies (IMFT), their NAND flash joint venture, the new 3bpc NAND technology produces the industry's smallest and most cost-effective 32-gigabit (Gb) chip that is currently available on the market. The 32Gb 3bpc NAND chip is 126 sq.mm. Micron is currently sampling and will be in mass production in the fourth quarter 2009. With the companies' continuing to focus on the next process shrink, 3bpc NAND technology is an important piece of their product strategy and is an effective approach in serving key market segments.

Micron Technology, Inc. today announced that it has produced the industry's first DDR3 load-reduced, dual-inline memory module (LRDIMM) and will begin sampling 16-gigabyte (GB) versions this fall. By reducing load on the server memory bus, Micron's LRDIMMs provide the option to support higher data frequencies and significantly increase memory capacity.

The new LRDIMMs will be manufactured using Micron's leading-edge 1.35-volt, 2-gigabit (Gb) 50-nanometer DDR3 memory chips, allowing the company to easily and cost-effectively increase server module capacity because of the chips' high-density and industry-leading small die size. Micron's 2Gb 50nm DDR3 product is currently in qualification with customers and is ramping toward high volume production.

IDT (Integrated Device Technology,) a leading provider of essential mixed signal semiconductor solutions that enrich the digital media experience and Micron Technology, Inc., one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced they have entered into an alliance to develop PCI Express Solid-State Drive (SSD) technologies for the server, storage and embedded markets.

As part of this alliance, IDT and Micron will co-develop enterprise flash controllers with a PCIe host interface optimized for Micron's flash devices and future generation RealSSD solid-state drives. Combining Micron's extensive experience in flash design and SSD development with IDT's proficiency in PCIe solutions and memory interface products will enable devices to achieve lower latency, greater performance and new levels of storage integration.

Micron Technology today announced mass production of new NAND flash memory products using its award-winning 34-nanometer (nm) process technology. As consumers demand increased capacity to store more music, videos, photos, and applications in ever smaller portable electronic devices, manufacturers need a storage solution that delivers on capacity, performance, and size. Micron's new 16- and 32-gigabit (Gb) NAND chips pair large capacity with performance, providing a compelling solution for today's demanding portable storage requirements that are tailored to end-customer product dimensions.
The newly architected 32Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND chip is 17 percent smaller than Micron's first-generation 32Gb chip. The 16Gb MLC NAND chip, at just 84mm², provides high-capacity in an ultra tiny package. Micron is also now sampling 8- and 16Gb single-level cell (SLC) NAND chips using the 34nm process.

Micron Technology, today introduced a new microdisplay panel, leveraging technology it recently acquired from Displaytech. The introduction of the new microdisplay panel is part of Micron's broader strategy of delivering differentiated products that leverage its expertise in semiconductor research and design.
The new panel Micron announced is a wide-screen quarter VGA (WQVGA) microdisplay solution designed to enable portable video and image projection for applications including head-mounted display products and embedded cell phone projectors. At the heart of the new WQVGA panel is ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (FLCOS) technology, which delivers superior image quality and color fidelity when compared to competing microdisplay technologies - all in a single, tiny package with minimal power requirements.

The current No. 3 global memory maker Micron Technology is said to enter the graphics memory business, fighting against Samsung and Hynix. Micron will make the chips mainly for NVIDIA and ATI video cards.
"Our upcoming 50-nanometer technology is very competitive when it comes to power consumption and performance," Robert Feurle, Micron's VP of DRAM marketing said. "I think it's a good point in time to begin discussions with big enablers NVIDIA and AMD and get started with some design-ins," Feurle said. "No decision has been made yet but we're looking into that very seriously," he added.
Plans are to start production of GDDR3 memory with speeds of 1600 MHz and up. After that a possible transition to GDDR5 manufacturing will be made. Unfortunately, that's all there is to know for now, Micron is mum on all other details.

Micron Technology, today announced that its suite of DDR3 server memory modules are validated with Intel's next-generation Intel Xeon processor chips. Micron's validated 1, 2, 4 and 8-gigabyte (GB) DDR3 modules are performance-driven, delivering speeds of 1066 megabits per second (Mb/s) and 1333 Mb/s, greatly increasing server throughput. Additionally, Lexar Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Micron, has validated its corresponding Crucial-branded modules, leveraging Micron's award-winning DDR3 memory.

Micron Technology, today announced its high-density portfolio of block abstracted (BA) NAND flash memory for use in personal media players and other applications. Utilizing Micron's industry-leading 34nm process technology, BA NAND is a single-package solution-combining MLC NAND with a memory controller that eliminates the need for controllers/systems to undergo arduous re-designs in order to adopt successive generations of NAND.
Currently, most NAND flash memory host controllers are tasked with managing critical NAND functions such as block management and wear-leveling algorithms, and providing adequate error correction code (ECC) coverage to assure system reliability. However, because these features are becoming more advanced with every generation of NAND, designers are required to keep up with the latest innovations in order for their chipsets to properly manage NAND and assure reliable system operation.

Deteriorating economic conditions and decreased demand for 200 millimeter (mm) specialty DRAM products have created additional challenges for Micron Technology, Inc.'s Boise manufacturing operations. As a result, Micron announced today that it will phase out 200mm wafer manufacturing operations at the company's Boise facility. This action will reduce employment at Micron's Idaho sites by approximately 500 employees in the near term and as many as 2,000 positions by the end of the company's fiscal year. The company has sufficient manufacturing capacity remaining and does not expect any disruption in product supply required for customer needs.

Micron Technology and Nanya Technology Corporation, today announced that they have jointly developed low-power DDR2 (LPDDR2) DRAM technology for mobile and consumer applications with initial die densities up to 1Gb. Developed through the companies' DRAM joint development program (JDP), the LPDDR2 is designed to operate at 1.2-volts, providing as much as a 50-percent power reduction when compared to LPDDR1.
"LPDDR2 DRAM is important for the design of today's mobile applications, prolonging a device's battery life with its low-power consumption and improvement of overall system performance compared to low-power DDR1," said John Schreck, vice president of DRAM design at Micron. "Development of this high-performing LPDDR2 is credit to the swift progress in technology design that we have achieved through our JDP with Nanya. We look forward to growing our relationship with Nanya, continuing to bring industry-leading DRAM design to our customer base."

Micron Technology today announced results of operations for the company's first quarter of fiscal 2009, which ended December 4, 2008. For the first quarter of fiscal 2009, the company posted a net loss of $706 million, or $0.91 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.4 billion. These results reflect a non-cash charge to cost of goods sold of $369 million to write down the value of work in process and finished goods inventories of memory products to their estimated market values and a benefit of $157 million from first quarter sales of products that were subject to
previous write-downs. In the first quarter of fiscal 2009, the company generated $359 million in cash flow from operating activities and ended the quarter with cash and investments of $1.0 billion.

Micron Technology today announced it has worked with Sun Microsystems to develop a new single-level cell (SLC) enterprise NAND technology that dramatically extends the lifespan of flash-based storage for enterprise applications. The result of the collaboration has yielded production devices capable of achieving one million write cycles, a milestone that will help prepare the industry for new uses in solid state storage set to come from Sun, Micron and others. The new technology delivers the highest write/erase cycling capability of any NAND technology available on the market.

Yes, the title says it right. I just saw a YouTube video taken from Micron' headquarters, where the company's Joe Jeddeloh demonstrates the rough power of solid state technology. During the footage he demonstrates a prototype of comething called Washington solid state drive mounted on a PCI-E card that delivers read speeds of over 1GB/sec. Now we all know that these drives won't come in a month time, but they show how good the SSD technology really is. Maybe, this experiment also gives a hint how desperately we need a new SATA standard, current SATA 3Gbps drives no matter conventional or SSD can output only 300MB/s in theory. Back to the video, there two SSD PCI-E cards are running on a 2GHz eight-core Xeon system. Benchmarks of this configuration show output of 200,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second). Although, you can't actually read these numbers because of the video's low resolution, Jeddeloh says that one PCI-E drive can read at around 800MB/sec, while a pair of cards can read at 1GB/sec. Micron claims that there's nothing special about the flash memory the drives use, in fact these are ordinary SLC (single level cell) drives. They're only "managed correctly." At the end of the video, Jeddeloh also shows a single 8x PCI-E card that features two SSDs on a single board, that he claims also offer "at least" 1GB/sec of bandwidth. Micron plans "wide availability of the product in 2010, but that its going to be targeted at enterprise customers first." For now this is only a quick look in the future. Watch the video over at Micron's Advanced Storage Blog.

Micron on Monday said to CNET that it would start mass-production of its long-awaited RealSSD C200 256GB solid state drives early next year. More specificaly, a Micron representative said that the company will start volume production in March 2009, and although both Micron and Intel have just unveiled 34nm memory technology, the 256GB SSDs won't utilize it. Using the new 34nm process will allow both companies to deliver drives with over 300GB of storage space, but that's another story plus these drives won't come out until the end of 2009. According to some information given before, the 2.5-inch Micron RealSSD C200 256GB SSDs will read data at 250MB/s and write at 100MB/s. The new SSDs will have a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface and will make use of MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash chips. Previously, Micron said the drives were to enter mass production in Q4 2008, but the chipmaker is slightly behind schedule and won't make it until next year.

Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. today announced mass production of their jointly developed 34nm, 32 gigabit multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory device. Developed and manufactured by the companies' NAND flash joint venture, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT), the process technology is the most advanced process available on the market and enables the industry's only monolithic 32 Gb NAND chip that fits into a standard 48-lead thin small-outline package (TSOP). The companies are ahead of schedule with 34nm NAND production, expecting their Lehi facility to have transitioned more than 50 percent of its capacity to 34nm by year's end.

Micron Technology today announced that it is expanding its partnership with Nanya Technology Corporation and signing a definitive agreement to acquire Qimonda AG's 35.6 percent ownership stake in Inotera Memories, a leading Taiwanese DRAM memory manufacturer, for $400 million in cash. To help fund the purchase price, Micron has obtained $285 million in term loan financing commitments from strategic sources at favorable terms.

After reporting a $344 million fourth-quarter loss last week Micron today said it is going to reduce its global workforce by approximately 15 percent during the next two years. Most of the workforce cuts will occur in Boise.

The combination of declining customer demand and product oversupply in the marketplace has driven selling prices for NAND flash memory significantly below manufacturing costs,

Micron said in a statement.
As a result, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT), a joint venture between Micron and Intel, will discontinue the supply of NAND flash memory from Micron's Boise facility. The NAND operation shutdown will reduce IMFT's NAND flash production by approximately 35,000 (200 millimeter) wafers per month, according to Micron. Production in the other two joint ownership NAND flash facilities in Lehi and Utah will continue operating at full speed for now.

Continuing to deliver innovative storage solutions for mobile and consumer applications, Micron Technology, Inc. today announced their latest e-MMC embedded devices. At 32GB, they are the highest densities available on the market today and are fully compliant with MMC standards. In addition, these newest e-MMC devices from Micron take advantage of the company's industry-leading 34nm MLC NAND process technology, and feature an extended temperature range (-40C to +85C) for automotive and industrial applications.

Considered by many as the memory perfectionists, Micron Technology, that's working closely with Intel these days in the field of solid state storage, NAND flash technologies, etc., has devised a drive series it calls RealSSD, the series is branched into consumer and enterprise segments, the P200 series are the enterprise offerings which are manufactured in a way that allows high uptime and MTBF to for mission-critical storage environments. The P200 uses Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND technology while RealSSD C200 series aimed at the consumer segment uses the much cheaper Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND technology.

What makes the RealSSD stand out is that the drives offer sequential read and write speed of a whopping 250MB/s, something that takes 4 ~ 6 member RAID 0 arrays using conventional drives to achieve. The C200 series are available in the 1.8" and 2.5" form-factors, the 1.8" drives come in capacities between 32GB and 128 GB while the larger drives offer capacities up to 256 GB. The drives use the 3 GB/s SATA II interface and the MLC-based C200 parts offer respectable write speeds of around 100 MB/s which is still high for its segment, with read speeds of around 250 MB/s. These drives are expected to arrive in Q4, 2008 under the Lexar brand.

Micron Technology today introduced its next-generation RealSSD solid state drives (SSDs) for enterprise computing and notebook applications. The new drives-the enterprise-class RealSSD P200 and the client-focused RealSSD C200-provide a dramatic improvement in capacity, power and performance for the applications they serve.

Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced immediate availability of Crucial Ballistix PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz) and PC3-14400 (DDR3-1800MHz) high-performance memory modules. These new modules expand on the award-winning Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 and DDR3-2000MHz product offering. As part of its commitment to the PC enthusiast and gaming community, Lexar Media continually seeks to bring new memory offerings to market and enhance its product lines.

With announcements coming in from of rolling out Solid State Drives (SSD) and that it would become a prominent player in the SSD business, Seagate is still in requirement of trade relationships with a NAND Flash manufacturer, add to that it doesn't have production facilities of its own.

This has gotten analysts to speculate on where Seagate will source its chips from, a possibility being buying Intel's share of the Intel-Micron JV. Such a buy-out would set Seagate back by close to $1 bn. Another possibility would be to acquire SanDisk or Hynix (Hyundai) which focus on making entry-level solid state drives, but are a major players in the overall NAND flash market. If it will be SanDisk, Hynix or any other flash maker remains to be seen, but it wouldn't come as a surprise if Seagate announces the acquisition of a flash company soon.

With many economies under inflation and other factors influencing a weak demand, these are perhaps the worst days for several companies involved in manufacture, marketing and distribution of DRAM and related products. While on the surface, all the consumer can see is a falling market price, in reality it is a composed chaos.

DigiTimes reports a falling demand for DRAM in the Asia-Pacific region as the Chinese government cracks down on users of contraband DRAM products brought in from manufacturing states. The government crackdown began with the thousands of internet-shacks and the components (both hardware and software) they used. All this comes ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a 'purge drive'. As a result, thousands of internet-shacks have been closed, bans have been imposed on the use of contraband hardware, most of which consist of DRAM related hardware. China also brought about changes in their customs routines and procedures making it extremely complicated for importers, stepping up waiting queues, affecting markets and more importantly, dampening demand.