Everspin - Page 12

A couple of days ago we reported that Everspin will start sampling ST-MRAM chips soon, and today we got official word from Everspin that they are now sampling the first ST-MRAM chip. The EMD3D064M is a 64Mb DDR3 device, and select customers are already evaluation samples. Everspin is currently targeting the enterprise SSD market, to complement flash memory.

Everspin is manufacturing the ST-MRAM chips on its 200mm production line in Chandler, Arizona. The company is working to establish 300 mm MRAM tools and additional fab capacity. The company expects the EMD3D064M to become available in 2013.

Update: this is now official, Everspin's EMD3D064M is the world's first ST-MRAM chip, will ship in 2013

We just got word that Everspin will soon announce their first ST-MRAM product. From what we hear, the 64-Mbit chip is already sampling and clients are already evaluation it. Everspin is targeting the enterprise SSD market. Everspin's ST-MRAM chips will feature non-volatility, low latency and increased reliability.

If this is true, this is a very exciting moment for the MRAM industry, as many believe that Spin-Torque (ST-MRAM) technology will finally enable MRAM to reach high densities, lower prices and mass market adoption.

Aeroflex launched three MRAM chips for the aerospace and defense markets: the UT8MR2M8 (16Mbit, 40-pin flatpack) and the UT8MR8M8 (64Mbit, 64-pin flatpack). The 64Mbit chip isactually the world's highest density MRAM chip (Everspin's highest one is only 16Mbit in size).

Aeroflex is using licensed MRAM technolgoy from Everspin, and it took them two years to modify Everspin's design so it fits their target markets.

Buffalo (a Japanese storage expert) introduced a new line of SSDs that use MRAM cache (instead of the standard SDRAM). The MRAM chips are probably made by Everspin (as it is the only MRAM maker).

Buffalo says that MRAM is nonvolatlie and so this new cache technology provides increased tolerance to power loss.

Back in January we reported that NVE filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Everspin Technologies in the US. NVE claims that Everspin infringes three NVE MRAM patents. Today Everspin responded with a suit of their own, claiming that NVE infringed on two US patents related to GMR-based isolators, sensors, encoders and memory.

Everspin announced today that CogniMem's CogniBlox product line uses their 4MB MRAM chips. The CogniBlox is a reconfigurable and stackable pattern recognition module that enables a cognitive computing platform. The CogniBlox uses Everspin's MRAM to store and restore the content of the neurons. Each CogniBlox module features four CM1K neuron chips or a total of 4,096 silicon neurons.

Everspin says that MRAM is suitable for massively parallel pattern recognition tasks because it's the only memory technology that offers SRAM-like speeds, non-volatility and unlimited endurance. Having a non-volatile memory solution means that the knowledge learned is saved in the case of a power interruption - without the need for external batteries or other solutions.

There are reports that Everspin is looking for venture capital cash - as it wants to hire more people needed to expand operation. The company expects to ship over 5 million MRAM chips in 2012 to over 300 customers.

Last month Everspin announced a 300% growth in product shipment in 2011 with 250 new design wins, including Dell and LSI.

Everspin issued a PR today announcing a 300% growth in product shipment in 2011 - with 250 new design wins. Everspin actually revealed this information last week at CES. Everspin says that the enterprise storage, server and networking segment was the fastest growing segment during the year (Everspin's "traditinal" markets are the industrial, energy and automotive and transportation markets).

The company further revealed that a number of leading vendors in this segment are using MRAM for critical data storage in RAID systems, servers and routers. Both Dell and LSI are using Everspin's chips in their RAID controllers.

Everspin had a presentation at CES 2012, in which they gave some interesting new details. The company has shipped over 4 million MRAM chips to date, and they expect to ship over 5 million in 2012 (this is based on design wins in 2011). They have over 300 customers and over 250 design wins. Everspin further says that currently there are over 100 MRAM products on the market.

NVE filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Everspin Technologies in the US. NVE claims that Everspin infringes three NVE MRAM patents. NVE seeks an injunction for Everspin to cease using NVE?s patented technology and provide compensation for damages caused by the infringement.

Everspin was spun-off Freescale, which was spun-off from Motorola, which was an NVE licensee. Back in 2006, when Freescale announced the first MRAM products, NVE tried to negotiate an agreement with them, it seems that after 5 and a half years the company decided to resort to litigation after all. Here's what Daniel Baker (NVE's CEO) said back then: "Based on a preliminary analysis, we believe Freescale's MRAM comes within the scope of claims in a number of NVE patents. We hope to negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement with Freescale to give them access to NVE intellectual property without having to resort to litigation"