MRAM history
The early years
- 1989 - IBM scientists made a string of key discoveries about the "giant magnetoresistive" effect in thin-film structures.
- 2000 - IBM and Infineon established a joint MRAM development program.
- 2002 - NVE Announces Technology Exchange with Cypress Semiconductor.
- 2003 - A 128Kbit MRAM chip was introduced, manufactured with 0.18 technology.
2004
- June - Infineon unveiled a 16-Mbit prototype based on 0.18 micron.
- September - MRAM becomes a standard product in Freescale, which has began sampling MRAM.
- October - Taiwan developers of MRAM to tape out 1Mbit parts at TSMC.
- October - Micron drops MRAM, mulls other memories.
- December - TSMC, NEC, Toshiba describe novel MRAM cells.
- December - Renesas Technology Develops High-Speed, High-Reliability MRAM Technology.
2005
- January - Cypress samples MRAM, uses NVE IP.
- March - Cypress to Sell MRAM Subsidiary.
- June - Honeywell posts 1-Mbit rad-hard MRAM data sheet.
- August - MRAM record: memory cell runs at 2 GHz.
- November - Renesas Technology and Grandis to Collaborate on Development of 65 nm MRAM Employing Spin Torque Transfer.
2006
- February - Toshiba and NEC Develop World's Fastest, Highest Density MRAM.
- June - Crocus raises 17M$ on potential of MRAM.
- July - Freescale begins selling 4-Mbit MRAM.
2007
- March - Honeywell develops non-volatile MRAM for strategic space applications.
- June - Freescale expands MRAM product line.
- August - TDK and IBM partner for STT-RAM research, to produce high-capacity MRAM chips in 2008.
- October - Micromem starts to produce MRAM wafers.
- November - Toshiba develops new MRAM device which opens the way to giga-bits capacity
- November - NEC Develops World's Fastest SRAM-Compatible MRAM With Operation Speed of 250MHz
- December - Micromem says First Foundry MRAM Manufactured
2008
- January - Hynix and Samsung get 50M$ from government to develop new chips including STT-RAM
- March - Siemens Selects Freescale MRAM for Industrial Automation Touch-Screen Products
- April - Hynix licenses Grandis' STT-RAM technology
- April - Freescale sold over 1 million MRAM chips, has 45 customers, planning to reduce price
- June - Toshiba shows advances in 1Gb MRAM, expects MRAM to take over DRAM in 2015
- June - Freescale to spin-off MRAM to a new company called everspin, gets 20M$ investment
- June - Samsung and Hynix to launch STT-MRAM JV in september, expect the chip to mature around 2012
- August - Researchers built a spin-torque system that is dramatically faster than any other
- October - Crocus raises 16M$ to complete MRAM development
- October - Renesas says new roadmap includes MRAM, will release MRAM samples by 2009 and products by 2010
- October - Grandis gets 6M$ DARPA grant for STT-RAM research
- November - Seagate says they are putting a lot of money into next-gen memory including MRAM
- November - Everspin releases new, smaller and cheaper MRAM products aimed for consumer applications
- December - IBM shows new STT-MRAM tech with 20-fold increase in capacity (up to 64Mbit)
2009
- February- Grandis opens fabrication facility for STT-RAM
- February- Samsung and Hynix started to work on STT-RAM in a joint venture
- February- NEC develops 32MB embeddable MRAM
- March- Crocus says will have MRAM product by end of 2009
- March - Everspin sees growing interest in MRAM, rapid increase in cusomter design activity
- May - Everspin ships over 100K MRAM chips to Siemens with zero defects
- June - NEC working on perpendicular MRAM, to make chips in 2010
- June - Tower to make MRAM chips for Crocus, will start manufacture towards the end of 2009
- July - Emerson Network Power to use Everspin's MRAM in their industrial computing boards
- September - Airbus to use Everspin's MRAM in flight control computer
- September - Crocus announced a new STT-MRAM technology that can compete with DRAM and NOR-Flash
- November - Everspin introduces new MRAM chips with a serial interface
- November - Hynix and Samsung to co-develop STT-MRAM in a $40 million project
2010
- January - Japanese researchers create a new TMR element that will enable 10 Gbit STT-MRAM
- April - Everspin introduces new 16 MBit MRAM chips
- June - The world's first MRAM-based FPGA is ready for production
- June - Grandis awarded $8.6 million from DARPA for a 2nd phase STT-RAM research project
- July - Researchers create a new STT-RAM structure, reduces current by a factor of 50
- July - Aeroflex licenses MRAM technology from Everspin
- August - Magsil finally out of stealh-mode, plans to make 1Mb MRAM chips soon
- September - ENP announces a new single-board computer with 512KB of MRAM
- October - Crocus to start mass-producing TAS-MRAM in 2H 2011
- November - STT announces a major-step towards STT-MRAM commercialization
2011
- February - BMW uses new automotive-temperate Everspin MRAM in their S-1000RR super bike
- March - Everspin says they shipped over 1.5 million MRAM chips, plans to sell over 4.5 million in 2011
- March - Spingate working on 4Gbit pS-MRAM chip design
- May - Crocus receives a $125 million investment from Rusnano to produce MRAM chips in Russia
- June - Crocus developed NAND-like MRAM based technology called Magnetic Logic Unit (MLU)
- June - NEC and Tohoku University developed MRAM based spin-CAM
- July - Toshiba and Hynix to co-develop and co-produce STT-MRAM chips
- August - Samsung acquires Grandis
- August - Toshiba to use MRAM as cache for HDD and NAND
- October - Everspin to launch STT-MRAM in 2012, partners with Cadence on memory models
- October - Crocus and IBM to jointly-develop MRAM technology, sign patent license agreements
- October - Micron and A*STAR to jointly develop high density STT-MRAM
- December - Samsung developed a perpendicular MTJ at 17nm
2012
- January - Everspin reports 250 new MRAM design wins in 2011, lists Dell and LSI as customers
- January - NVE sues Everspin over 3 MRAM patents
- February - OST-MRAM developer Spin Transfer Technologies raised $36 million
- May - Buffalo introduces new SSDs that use MRAM cache
- July - Aeroflex launches 16MBit and 64MBit MRAM chips, based on Everspin's technology
- August - Avalanche raises $30 million to bring their STT-MRAM products to market
- September - Skyera to use Everspin's MRAM in their flash-based enterprise storage system
- September - Singulus and Albany's CNSE to partner on MRAM research in a $12 million project
- November - Everspin announces the world's first STT-MRAM chip, will launch in early 2013
- November - Tokyo Electron acquires Magnetic Solutions
- December - Toshiba developed the lowest power consumption STT-MRAM, to accelerate R&D
- December - New MeRAM technology is 10 to 1000 times more energy efficient than STT-RAM
2013
- January - Qualcomm and IMEC to jointly research MRAM technologies
- May - Crocus licenses MLU technology to TowerJazz, products expected by the end of 2013
- June - Samsung seeks STT-MRAM research partners, offers funding and collaboration
- July - Crocus raised $45 million, hopes to start generating revenue towards the end of 2013
- July - Crocus and TowerJazz to ship MRAM for the BB-SRAM market by the end of the year
- August - Everspin sold over 10 million MRAM chips, raised $15 million
- November - Crocus Nanoelectronics launched the first production line at their MRAM fab
- November - Buffalo Memory launched the world's first product with STT-MRAM
- November - 20 chipmakers from Japan and US to co-develop MRAM
- December - Toshiba developed a drastically faster computing architecture based on STT-MRAM
2014
- January - ARM licenses Crocus' Magnetic Logic Unit (MLU) technology
- June - Toshiba developed STT-MRAM based microprocessor cache memory
- August - Everspin ramps up STT-MRAM production, unveiles new customers
- October - TDK shows 8MB STT-MRAM prototype chips
- October - Everspin signs production agreement with GlobalFoundries, sold over 40 million MRAM chips
2015
- January - Everspin raised $29 million from Global Foundries, Western Digital and others
- June - MRAM maker Crocus raises $21 million
- July - Avalanche Technology starts to sample 32/64 Mbit STT-MRAM chips
2016
- April - Samsung says it will be ready with MRAM chips "soon"
- April - Everspin starts sampling 256Mb ST-MRAM chips, plans 1Gb chips by Q4 2016
- July - NUS researchers demonstrate the world's first bendable MRAM device
- July - IBM demonstrated 11nm STT-MRAM junction, says "time for STT-MRAM is now"
- August - Everspin starts shipping perpendicular-MTJ based ST-MRAM chip samples
- September - Spin Transfer Technologies fabricated 20nm OST-MRAM MTJs
- September - Global Foundries to offer Everspin's PMTJ STT-MRAM as an embedded memory solution
- October - Everspin raises $40 million in a successful IPO
- December - Toshiba and Hynix prototype a 4 Gb STT-MRAM
- December - IMEC researchers demonstrate the world's smallest pMTJ at 8nm
2017
- January - Spin Transfer Technologies starts sampling 80nm OST-MRAM chips
- August - Everspin starts to sample 1Gb pMTJ STT-MRAM chips
- September - GlobalFoundries starts to offer 22nm eMRAM technology is now available
- October - Spin Transfer Technologies raised $22.8 million via a convertible bridge facility
2018
- January - Everspin starts to produce commercial 40nm 256Mb STT-MRAM chips
- February - Tohoku University develops ultra-small 10nm MTJs
- April - Spin Transfer Technologies announces its breakthrough PSC STT-MRAM technology
- August - IBM introduces its latest 19.2TB enterprise SSD drivers with Everspin's STT-MRAM
- August - Avalanche sign an agreement with UMC for 28nm embedded STT-MRAM technology
- November - Spin Memory announces an MRAM IP licensing agreement with Arm
- November - Everspin and SilTerra to build a Toggle MRAM production line in Malaysia
- November - Avalanche Technology announces its 2nd-generation pMTJ STT-MRAM chips
- December - Gyrfalcon's new AI chip first to use TSMC's embedded MRAM
2019
- January - Everspin starts to ship customer samples of its 28nm 1Gb STT-MRAM chips
- February - Intel says its embedded 22nm MRAM is production ready
- March - Samsung starts shipping 28nm embedded MRAM memory
- June - Avalanche Technology raises $33 million
- June - Everspin starts pilot production of its 28nm 1-Gb STT-MRAM chips
- July - Applied Materials unveils new high-volume 300mm MRAM manufacturing system
- December - Everspin starts production shipments of its 1Gb STT-MRAM chips
2020
- February - GlobalFoundries starts producing embedded MRAM
- July - Spin Memory raised $8.3 million as it extends its Series B Funding Round
- September - SOT-MRAM developer Antaios raises $11 million
- September - Avalanache Technology's Serial P-SRAM STT-MRAM now shipping
- November - Everspin is cash flow positive for the first time ever
- December - IBM reveals the world's first 14nm STT-MRAM node
2021
- July - Orthogonal Spin Transfer MRAM developer Spin Memory liquidates
- November - Everspin is cash-flow positive for the first time ever
- December - Renesas reduces the power consumption of STT-MRAM by 72%
- December - Tohoku University scientists develop the world's smallest STT-MRAM MTJ
2022
2023
- May - NXP and TSMC to offer 16 nm FinFET automotive embedded MRAM
August - NETSOL Launches a stand-alone STT-MRAM product
2024
- January - Tohoku University researchers develop a high performance X nm MTJ
- February - Renesas achieves the world's fastest MRAM random access speed
- July - Researchers develop an MRAM based architecture that could accelerate AI by a factor of 1000
- August - Everspin awarded $14.55 to provide continued, stable MRAM manufacturing for aerospace and defense applications
- October - Kioxia and Hynix develop the world's smallest 1Selector-1MTJ cell, to enable 64Gb MRAM chips
- October - Researchers from IST and Western Digital develop a promising new SOT-MRAM material
