The agreement will see the three firms collaborate on developing controller integrated circuits between May 6, 2009 and May 5, 2012. Phison will supply controllers to Hynix and Numonyx. These firms will combine the chips with their NAND flash memory to create new devices, some of which are expected to be available before the end of the year.
It is thought the partnership will help all three companies enhance their technological leadership of NAND flash solutions. “Through this collaboration, we hope that our management expertise in this segment will help bring about the best solutions for the wireless market,” said Phison Chairman K.S. Pua.
“Our combined efforts will help Hynix to expand its market share by diversifying its NAND flash products to premium application products,” stated Choi Min-goo, senior vice president of Corporate Strategy Office with the South Korean firm.
The terms of the agreement call for the new products to be designed and built in accordance with the latest eMMC 4.4 industry specifications. Featuring both flash memory and a flash memory controller, eMMC is an embedded non-volatile memory system.
New eMMC devices feature numerous enhancements, including a doubling of memory interface performance, flexible partition management and improved security options. Products embedded with the system support a wide range of applications, including mobile phones, GPS systems, electronic books and many other consumer items.
“Standard interfaces like eMMC are becoming a common requirement for NAND flash memory systems used in the next generation of mobile platforms,” said Marco Dallabora, vice president and general manager of the Wireless Business Group at Numonyx. “This agreement will allow Numonyx to bring its system-level expertise to provide compelling system solutions for our customers and partners.”
Phison is known for its USB flash controller technology and related NAND flash applications. Hynix, one of the world’s leading producers of NAND chips, supplies dynamic random access memory chips and flash memory chips for a growing number of global technology customers.
According to statistics from Taiwan-based DRAMeXchange Technology Inc., Hynix’s first quarter 2009 NAND memory flash sales were estimated at US$171 million and ranked fourth in the world with an 8.2-percent market share.
Geneva-based Numonyx is a 2008 joint venture between Intel Corp., STMicroelectronics Co. and Francisco Partners LLC. For first quarter this year, its NAND memory flash sales stood at US$70 million, giving it a 3.4-percent market share and No. 6 position.
All three companies have a successful track record of collaboration with each other. In June 2008, Hynix and Phison announced they would jointly develop NAND application technology.
Numonyx and Hynix entered into an agreement in August 2008 to develop current and future NAND technologies and products. Numonyx and Phison also worked on developing standard and enhanced eMMC 4.3 solutions, which are now available in Numonyx products and solutions.
Interest in Phison by foreign firms is not new. Japan’s Toshiba Corp. owns 16 percent of the firm, and U.S.-based Kingston Technology Corp.’s stake will increase to 6.5 percent from 2.44 percent upon acquisition of 5.6 million Phison new shares for NT$658 million via private placement by May 15. The issue’s proceeds will be used by Phison to develop new products, technologies and markets.
Write to Adela Lin at adela2009@mail.gio.gov.tw