Intel and ST Micro Close the Numonyx NAND Flash Deal

Intel today announced that it has closed the transaction with memory specialist ST Microelectronics and investment firm Francisco Partners on the Numonyx flash memory joint venture. Numonyx is touted as a combination between ST Micro's NAND flash division and Intel's NOR flash business.

According to memory market analysts, the new joint-venture will be one of the largest providers of flash-based memory, as well as the largest flash memory supplier in the mobile telephony industry. According to Brian Harrison, the new CEO of Numonyx, the company will offer a broad palette of flash-based products. "We have a very broad product line that's not typical of a start-up company by any means," he said.

The deal has been closed later than the involved parts expected, as both companies have experienced financial difficulties, which forced the partners to re-adjust the financing options. As previously reported, Intel and its partner ST Microelectronics, could not cover the huge costs alone, and they had to call in help from investment company Francisco Partners.

According to the deal's terms, Numonyx will primarily focus on manufacturing NOR flash memory chips, that will account for roughly 90 percent of its production, while the rest of 10 percent will be allocated to manufacturing NAND flash memory.

However, the NAND flash market is working on a commodity basis, and Harrison claims that the newly formed joint venture will not be affected by the severe plunge, as the company is especially focused on manufacturing NOR memory.

Harrison also stated that the strongest point in the new alliance is a new technology, called phase-change memory. Despite the fact that it is still young and has a long way ahead until it reaches mass-production, the new breed of storage media is alleged to double the capacity of NAND memory, while delivering data transfer rates close to RAM.

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