Micron Exits Chip Developed With Intel, Will Sell Utah Factory
Micron exits a memory-chip venture with Intel and will increase investment in new products that leverage Compute Express Link.
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Micron Technology (
MU) - Get Report shares were little changed after the semiconductor titan said it’s exiting the memory chip that it partnered on with Intel (
And it’s selling a Utah factory where this 3D XPoint chip was made.
The stock recently traded at $91.50, little changed. Micron shares have surged 82% in the six months through Tuesday.
Shares of Intel, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip major, at last check slipped 1.2% to $64.03.
In a sudden but perhaps not too surprising announcement, Micron has stated that they are ceasing all R&D of 3D XPoint memory technology. Intel and Micron co-developed 3D XPoint memory, revealed in 2015 as a non-volatile memory technology with higher performance and endurance than NAND flash memory.
Intel has been responsible for almost all of the commercial volume of 3D XPoint-based products, under their Optane brand for both NVMe SSDs and persistent memory modules in the DIMM form factor. Micron in 2016 announced their QuantX brand for 3D XPoint products, but never shipped anything under that brand. Their first and only real product based on 3D XPoint was the X100 high-end enterprise SSD which saw very limited release to close partners. Micron has now decided that further work to commercialize 3D XPoint memory isn t worth the investment.
Micron to Address Growing Opportunity for Memory, Storage Hierarchy Innovation
Micron Technology, Inc. has announced updates to the company’s portfolio strategy to further strengthen its focus on memory and storage innovations for the data center. Micron will increase investment in new memory products that leverage the Compute Express Link™ (CXL™), the recently introduced industry standard interface that enables flexible connection between compute, memory and storage. With immediate effect, Micron will cease development of 3D XPoint™ and shift resources to focus on accelerating market introduction of CXL-enabled memory products.
“Memory and storage are critical to the data economy, and the need for data center memory innovation has never been greater,” said Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. “As a leader in memory and storage, Micron is committed to leading innovation to unleash the next genera
(Photo: Intel)
Micron has announced that it intends to stop manufacturing 3D XPoint memory this year and exit the market due to a lack of demand.
Although 3D XPoint isn t a well-known name, Intel s Optane is, and it relied on Micron s specialized memory to be as fast as RAM while storing data like an SSD. However, Intel sold its share in the 3D XPoint business to Micron in 2018, and earlier this year announced consumer models of its Optane-only SSDs were being discontinued.
As Tom s Hardware reports, Micron is now following Intel and exiting the 3D XPoint business due to insufficient market validation to justify the ongoing high levels of investments required to successfully commercialize 3D XPoint at scale. It follows a $400 million loss, and now the company is tasked with selling the fab in Lehi, Utah, where 3D XPoint is produced. A task it hopes to complete by the end of 2021.
3D XPoint is at risk of being abandoned on March 17, 2021, 10:10
The big picture: Micron Technology is washing its hands of 3D XPoint, the memory technology it announced alongside Intel back in 2015. The company has halted R&D and is putting its fab up for sale. Unless a new owner scoops up the ashes and does something revolutionary with it, we ve perhaps seen the last of 3D XPoint. Maybe Intel will want it after all?
Micron said that effective immediately, they will cease development of 3D XPoint as they have determined that there is “insufficient market validation to justify the ongoing high levels of investments required to successfully commercialize 3D XPoint at scale.”