Micron Buys Itself Out of Flash Partnership With Intel

AlphaAtlas

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Micron is officially ending their flash partnership by buying Intel's share of IM Flash for $2.5 billion. Micron is shelling out $1.5 billion in cash for the acquisition, and is taking on another $1 billion in debt. The company says it can start the acquisition process in early 2019, and that it could take 6 to 12 months tot close the deal. Micron and Intel jointly developed 3D Flash and 3D Xpoint as part of the agreement, and going forward, they have plans for sharing that technology.

In July 2018, Micron and Intel agreed to conclude their joint development of 3D XPoint technology after the completion of the second-generation node, which is expected to occur in the second half of Fiscal 2019. The two companies will independently drive their own future technology roadmaps. Micron is currently collaborating with ecosystem partners to introduce 3D XPoint products in late calendar 2019, with revenue ramp starting in calendar 2020. Joint manufacture of 3D XPoint memory will continue at the IM Flash facility in Lehi, Utah until the transaction is closed. Based on prior agreements, Micron will sell 3D XPoint memory wafers to Intel for up to a year after close. At the close of the transaction, IM Flash will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Micron, and all IM Flash employees will become part of the Micron team focused on supporting technology development and manufacturing efforts in Lehi.
 
Intel needs faster memory, storage, etc to show long term value in their processors and platform. Xpoint is the fastest thing out and now that it exists they can rest on the storage front for a while. The rest of the industry can now shoulder the burden to catch up to it.
 
With the price of flash memory dropping is this a wise decision? Did they get a sweetheart deal?
 
I wonder if wafer prices shifted so much that it makes sense for both of them to split apart on this. Maybe it's a disagreement somewhere. There's certainly some dirt to this story somewhere.
 
With the price of flash memory dropping is this a wise decision? Did they get a sweetheart deal?
3dxp isnt for large storage, its kind of an inbetween dram and flash. At least thats what i was told :)
I hope that this doesn't kill off the Optane products
Intel is going to ramp up their fabs in new mexico i hear since they wont have a source of 3dxp anymore
 
Micron is going to continue to make flash, this facility is in Utah, not far from Boise and they have the capital.
As a shareholder I think this is good down the road.
 
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