Micron Technology

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Not to be confused with Mikron Group, the Russian microelectronics company.
Micron Technology, Inc.
TypePublic
  • Nasdaq: MU
  • NASDAQ-100 component
  • S&P 500 component
IndustrySemiconductors
FoundedOctober 5, 1978; 42 years ago (1978-10-05)
HeadquartersBoise, Idaho, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Robert E. Switz (Chairman)
Sanjay Mehrotra (President & CEO)[1]
ProductsDRAM
Flash memory
SSDs
BrandsBallistix Gaming
Crucial
RevenueDecrease US$21.44 billion (2020)
Decrease US$3.07 billion (2020)
Decrease US$2.69 billion (2020)
Total assetsIncrease US$53.68 billion (2020)
Total equityIncrease US$39 billion (2020)
Number of employees
40,000 (2020)
Website
Footnotes / references
[2]
DDR4 RDIMM featuring both Micron logo (far left) and Crucial logo (centre right).
Crucial-branded 525GB solid state drive.
Lexar SDXC UHS-II memory card (front and back) manufactured while the company was owned by Micron.
Crucial-branded SD memory cards from 2007.

Micron Technology, Inc. is an American producer of computer memory and computer data storage including dynamic random-access memory, flash memory, and USB flash drives. It is headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Its consumer products are marketed under the brands Crucial[3] and Ballistix. Micron and Intel together created IM Flash Technologies, which produces NAND flash memory. It owned Lexar between 2006[4] and 2017.[5]

History[]

1978–1999[]

Micron was founded in Boise, Idaho, in 1978[6] by Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson, and Doug Pitman as a semiconductor design consulting company.[7] Startup funding was provided by local Idaho businessmen Tom Nicholson, Allen Noble, Rudolph Nelson, and Ron Yanke. Later it received funding from Idaho billionaire J. R. Simplot, whose fortune was made in the potato business. In 1981, the company moved from consulting to manufacturing with the completion of its first wafer fabrication unit ("Fab 1"), producing 64K DRAM chips.

In 1984, the company went public.[8]

In 1994, founder Joe Parkinson retired as CEO and Steve Appleton took over as Chairman, President, and CEO.[6]

A 1996 3-way merger among ZEOS International, Micron Computer, and Micron Custom Manufacturing Services (MCMS) increased the size and scope of the company;[6] this was followed rapidly with the 1997 acquisition of NetFrame Systems, in a bid to enter the mid-range server industry.[9]

2000–present[]

In 2000, Gurtej Singh Sandhu and Trung T. Doan at Micron initiated the development of atomic layer deposition high-k films for DRAM memory devices. This helped drive cost-effective implementation of semiconductor memory, starting with 90 nm node DRAM.[10][11] Pitch double-patterning was also pioneered by Gurtej Singh Sandhu at Micron during the 2000s, leading to the development of 30-nm class NAND flash memory, and it has since been widely adopted by NAND flash and RAM memory manufacturers worldwide.[10][12]

Micron and Intel created a joint venture in 2005, based in IM Flash Technologies in Lehi, Utah.[13] The two companies formed another joint venture in 2011, IM Flash Singapore, in Singapore.[14] In 2012, Micron became sole owner of this second joint venture.[citation needed]

In 2006, Micron acquired Lexar, an American manufacturer of digital media products.[4]

The company again changed leadership in June 2007 with COO Mark Durcan becoming President.[15]

In 2008, Micron had converted the Avezzano chip fab, formerly a Texas Instruments DRAM fab, into a production facility for CMOS image sensors sold by Aptina Imaging.[16]

In 2008, Micron spun off Aptina Imaging, which was acquired by ON Semiconductor in 2014. Micron retained a stake in the spinoff.[17] The core company suffered setbacks, however, requiring layoffs of 15 percent of its workforce in October 2008,[18][19] during which period the company also announced the purchase of Qimonda's 35.6% stake in Inotera Memories for $400 million.[20] The trend of layoffs and acquisitions continued in 2009 with the termination of an additional 2,000 employees,[21][22] and the acquisition of the FLCOS microdisplay company Displaytech.[23] Micron agreed to buy flash-chip maker Numonyx for $1.27 billion in stock in February 2010.[24]

On February 3, 2012, the CEO, Steve Appleton, died in a small Lancair plane crash in Boise, Idaho.[25][26][27] Mark Durcan replaced Appleton as the CEO shortly thereafter,[28] eliminating his former title of President.[29]

In 2013, the Avezzano chip fab was sold to LFoundry.[16]

In the 2012–2014 period, Micron again went through an acquisition-layoff cycle, becoming the majority shareholder of Inotera Memories, purchasing Elpida Memory[30] for $2 billion and the remaining shares in Rexchip, a PC memory chip manufacturing venture between Powerchip and Elpida Memory for $334 million,[31][32] while announcing plans to lay off approximately 3,000 workers.[33][34] Through the Elpida acquisition, Micron became a major supplier to Apple Inc. for the iPhone and iPad.[30]

In December 2016, Micron finished acquiring the remaining 67% of Inotera, making it a 100% subsidiary of Micron.[35]

In April 2017, Micron announced Sanjay Mehrotra as the new President and CEO to replace Mark Durcan.[36][37]

In June 2017, Micron announced it was discontinuing the Lexar retail removable media storage business and putting some or all it up for sale.[38] In August of that year the Lexar brand was acquired by Longsys, a flash memory company based in Shenzhen, China.[5]

On December 5, 2017, Micron sued rivals United Microelectronics Corporation and Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. (JHICC) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging infringement on its DRAM patents and intellectual property rights.[39]

In May 2018, Micron Technology and Intel launched QLC NAND memory to increase storage density.[40] The company ranked 150th on the Fortune 500 list of largest United States corporations by revenue.[41]

In February 2019, the first microSD card with a storage capacity of 1 terabyte (TB) was announced by Micron.[42]

As of March 2020, 3.84TB Micron 5210 Ion is the cheapest large capacity SSD in the world.[43]

In September 2020, the company introduced the world's fastest discrete graphics memory solution. Working with computing technology leader NVIDIA, Micron debuted GDDR6X in the new NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics processing units (GPUs).[44]

In November 2020, the company unveiled a new 176-layer 3D NAND chip. It offers improved read and write latency and is slated to be used in the production of a new generation of solid state drives.[45]

As of 2021, Micron is expected to sell its Lehi, Utah chip fab to Texas Instruments.[46]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award Recipients". IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  2. ^ "US SEC: Form 10-K Micron Technology, Inc". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Archived from the original on November 22, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  3. ^ Crucial service center in India Archived 2019-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, Service Center Contact, November 3, 2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Micron Technology, Inc., and Lexar Media, Inc. Announce Completion of Transaction" (Press release). 21 June 2006. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Longsys Acquires Lexar Brand, a Leading Brand for High-Performance Removable Storage Solutions". Longsys.com. 31 August 2017. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Micron Company Milestones". Micron. Archived from the original on 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  7. ^ Allan, Roy A. (2001). A history of the personal computer: the people and the technology. Allan Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 0-9689108-0-7. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  8. ^ Staats, David (18 October 2018). "Tales of Micron's 40 years". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  9. ^ By John Moore, FCW. "Micron agrees to buy NetFrame Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine." June 15, 1997. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b "IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award Recipients". IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  11. ^ Sandhu, Gurtej; Doan, Trung T. (22 August 2001). "Atomic layer doping apparatus and method". Google Patents. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Micron Named Among Top 100 Global Innovators for Sixth Straight Year". Micron Technology. 2018-02-15. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Intel, Micron to form flash-chip venture". Archived from the original on February 24, 2013.
  14. ^ Murray, Matthew (April 21, 2011). "Intel, Micron Open Singapore NAND Flash Plant". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
  15. ^ GmbH, finanzen net. "Longtime Micron Tech CEO Mark Durcan To Retire | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b David Lammers. "LFoundry: new frontiers, new opportunities".
  17. ^ Aptina boosts image; embraces foundries Archived 2013-05-18 at the Wayback Machine // EETimes, 4/12/2011
  18. ^ Vance, Ashlee (2008-10-09). "Memory Maker Reduces Work Force". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  19. ^ Gohring, Nancy (2008-10-09). "Micron to cut staff by 15%". Network World. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  20. ^ "Micron to pay $400 million for Qimonda's Inotera stake". Reuters. 2008-10-13. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  21. ^ "FOXNews.com - Micron Tech to cut up to 2,000 more jobs in Idaho - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News". www.foxnews.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  22. ^ "Micron Tech To Cut 2,000 Jobs". Granted Blog. 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  23. ^ "Micron acquires assets of Displaytech; gains FLCOS microdisplay technology". Laser Focus World. 2009-06-02. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  24. ^ Swanekamp, Kelsey. "Micron Shares Short Out". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  25. ^ Micron says CEO Steve Appleton has died in a Boise plane crash Archived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Post, February 3, 2012.
  26. ^ Statement by Micron Technology Board of Directors Archived 2012-02-06 at the Wayback Machine, Micron Technology, February 3, 2012.
  27. ^ Micron Tech CEO Dies in Plane Accident Archived 2017-09-03 at the Wayback Machine, Shara Tibken, Don Clark, The Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2012.
  28. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2014-01-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2016-09-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b Crothers, Brooke (July 31, 2013). "Micron completes $2 billion buy of chip supplier to Apple". CNET.com. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  31. ^ "Micron and Elpida Announce Sponsor Agreement". Micron Technology. Archived from the original on 2019-12-26. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
  32. ^ "Powerchip to sell Rex stake to Micron - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  33. ^ "Micron may shut Israel plant by 2015". Ynetnews. December 16, 2012. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  34. ^ mcarmel@idahopress.com, MARGARET CARMEL. "Past and current Micron employees report job cuts, Micron silent on numbers". Idaho Press. Archived from the original on 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
  35. ^ "Taiwan determined to fully support IC industry: Tsai". FocusTaiwan.tw. Archived from the original on 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
  36. ^ "Micron Appoints Sanjay Mehrotra as President and Chief Executive Officer". micron.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  37. ^ Tallis, Billy (27 April 2017). "Micron Hires New CEO: Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk Co-Founder and Former CEO". Anandtech. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  38. ^ Hawkins, Jay (26 June 2017). "Micron Technology, Inc. - Micron Discontinuing Lexar Removable Storage Retail Business". Micron.com. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  39. ^ "Why Did Micron Sue Chinese Companies over DRAM Technology?". January 19, 2018. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  40. ^ "Intel and Micron launch QLC NAND memory to increase storage density". TechSpot. Archived from the original on 2018-05-23. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  41. ^ "Micron Technology". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2018-11-21. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  42. ^ "Micron Unveils World's First 1TB microSD Card to Meet Consumer Demand for Mobile Storage". GlobeNewswire. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  43. ^ Athow, Desire. "This 3.84TB Micron 5210 Ion is the cheapest large capacity SSD right now". TechRadar. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  44. ^ "World's Fastest Discrete Graphics Memory From Micron Powers NVIDIA's Breakthrough Gaming Speeds". GlobeNewswire. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  45. ^ Athow, Desire. "Micron wants to kill hard disk drives with new super cheap flash memory". TechRadar. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  46. ^ Marin Wolf. "Texas Instruments to buy semiconductor factory in $900 million deal"

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