Numonyx B.V. officially became a new semiconductor company today,
focusing on delivering innovative memory solutions using combinations
of leading NOR, NAND and RAM memory technologies as well as new Phase
Change Memory (PCM). The new company starts as the leading dedicated
memory specialist serving customers who make a variety of consumer and
industrial devices including cellular phones, MP3 players, digital
cameras, ultra-mobile computers and other high-tech equipment.
Numonyx begins operations in the growing and dynamic non-volatile
memory business with considerable momentum. The company is the leading
provider of NOR flash memory, holds a considerable line-up of NAND
technologies for added growth and DRAM products that provide unique
product depth and value. Combined, Numonyx becomes the third largest
non-volatile memory provider with a combined annual revenue of
approximately US $3 billion(a).
"It is rare when a company starts in such a strong position," said
Brian Harrison, chief executive officer of Numonyx. "The complementary
nature of the two parent companies´ products, technologies and
expertise has given us a competitive edge. We start with a
comprehensive product line-up of leading technologies; dedicated
capacity; already leading PCM development and delivery; a highly
experienced management team and an amazing employee base of memory
experts. Immediately, Numonyx is a formidable memory solutions
provider."
The broad range of leading technologies and products will give
Numonyx a unique advantage and flexibility in how it helps solve
customer needs - configuring systems with the right balance of
density, performance, power and cost. According to a report by
industry analyst firm iSuppli, the non-volatile memory market
generated nearly $22.5 billion in revenue in 2007 and it is expected
to surpass $37.7 billion by 2011.
Leading with Technology and Manufacturing Muscle
Part of Numonyx´ strength is built on its ability to develop and
deliver cutting-edge technologies and advanced manufacturing
capabilities - the building blocks for leading non-volatile memory
products. The company is currently producing high volume 65nm NOR
memory chips and plans to quickly move to 45nm before the end of the
year, enabling state-of-the-art technology at lower cost. In addition,
Numonyx possesses some of the most sophisticated packaging and
stacking techniques in the industry to enable more flexible and
space-saving configurations for customers.
To meet demand for Numonyx memory chips, the company will possess
both wafer fabrication and assembly and test manufacturing facilities
in addition to holding external supply agreements. These facilities
include six 200 mm and three 300 mm wafer fabs, including Numonyx
owned facilities in Israel, Italy and Singapore. This will give
Numonyx the flexibility to produce any combination of NOR, NAND and
RAM wafers depending on customer demand.
A Distinguished History, A Promising Future
With 40 years of combined experience from Intel and
STMicroelectronics, Numonyx is receiving a substantial worldwide
patent portfolio from Intel and STMicroelectronics. The patents and
applications cover a variety of technologies including flash memory
and PCM, graphics, cell phones, storage media, processors,
semiconductor manufacturing and packaging, and various consumer
devices. Numonyx also brings a history of breakthroughs and milestones
including seven generations of Multi-level Cell (MLC) technologies.
"Our broad portfolio of intellectual property, patents and expertise
will serve as the cornerstone for Numonyx," continued Harrison. "We
intend to build on this rich history with even more innovation."
For example, earlier this month Intel and STMicroelectronics
announced that the industry´s first functional prototypes (code named
"Alverstone") of a future product using PCM was being sampled to
customers. The parent companies also presented a research paper
describing how they created the world´s first demonstrable
high-density, MLC large memory device using PCM technology. PCM is a
promising new memory technology that provides very fast read and write
speeds at lower power than conventional flash, and allows for bit
alterability normally seen in RAM.
The Numonyx executive team is comprised of seasoned industry
veterans from both Intel and STMicroelectronics as well as other
industry executives. Brian L. Harrison, formerly vice president and
general manager of the Flash Memory Group for Intel has been appointed
chief executive officer and Mario Licciardello, corporate vice
president and general manager of STMicroelectronics´ Flash Memories
Group has been appointed chief operating officer.
Headquartered in Switzerland and incorporated in the Netherlands,
Numonyx has approximately 7,000 employees worldwide with facilities in
USA, Italy, China, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines. Bank
financing for the new venture is being provided by Intesa Sanpaolo
S.p.A and Unicredit Banca d´Impresa S.p.A.
About Numonyx
Numonyx designs and manufactures a full complement of integrated
NOR, NAND and Phase Change non-volatile memory technologies and
products to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of customers in
the cellular and embedded markets. Numonyx combines the technology and
manufacturing expertise of the flash memory divisions of Intel
Corporation and STMicroelectronics, and is dedicated to providing high
density, low power memory technologies and packaging solutions to a
global base of customers. Additional information about Numonyx is
available at www.numonyx.com.
(a) Based on preliminary data from iSupply Q4 2007 CLT and AMFT
reports