Interesting to see that NXP is working on phase change memory with a little
If Ilika and NXP get it right, and come up with the right material to make phase change memories - and Ilika has a technology to find that material - then NXP could get access to a massive new revenue stream.
With traditional floating gate flash technology likely to run out of steam at around 30nm, a dense, fast, high-endurance, non-volatile memory replacement for flash would be a goldmine.
Anyone in the position of NXP's CEO, Frans van Houten, of having to spend $450 million to $500 million a year servicing the debt put on NXP by its private equity owners, KKR, would be tempted by a foray into the discrete memory market which would, if successful, pay off the company's debts in short order.
Of course, when I asked van Houten, earlier this week, if NXP might use a viable phase change technology to enter the mass market for discrete non-volatile memory, he replied: "Our focus here is on embedded memory. We are trying to keep to customers' roadmaps, and there may be fundamental limits to existing technology."
But still, whoever comes up with the best replacement to floating gate flash will have the next best thing to a goose which lays golden eggs.
Leave a comment