Page 14 - EE|Times Europe Magazine - December 2020

14 EE|Times EUROPE — The Memory Market

SPECIAL REPORT: MEMORY TECHNOLOGY
Plenty of Life Left in ‘Legacy’ Memories

By Gary Hilson

egacy memories are no longer lowly
devices that hit their end of life (EOL)
because a major vendor is focused on
L the latest and greatest. With a growing
list of smart devices, AI-infused edge comput-
ing, and the exponentially growing internet of
things, “enduring” might be a better label for
these entrenched memories.
A DDR5 specification is now available for
double-data-rate memory, and emerging
memories such as Intel’s Optane 3D Xpoint are
clearing the adoption hump. But ever-
changing economics still mean there’s a need
for older, low-density memories, including
older DRAM.
“In bygone days, DRAM was not used in
smaller systems, because it required a DRAM
controller,” said Jim Handy, principal analyst Automotive applications require qualified memory devices that will last a long time in
with Objective Analysis. SRAM went into sys- embedded environments subject to extreme temperatures. That’s one reason why NOR
tems with small memory requirements; DRAM flash continues to find new opportunities. (Source: Macronix)
went into the larger ones, accompanied by a
controller used for larger memories.
Now, however, “Moore’s Law has shrunk the cost of that controller example, Micron has started to follow the Samsung model of EOL-ing
down to nearly nothing,” Handy added. older memory products.
While this has reduced the opportunities for SRAM, even though it’s Mid-sized customers track the direction of the Big Three memory
appealing for high-speed systems, there remain plenty of applications makers: Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix, said Bagby. “They don’t want
that don’t require anything faster than SDRAM, DDR, and DDR2 DRAM, to be stuck without being able to get a supply,” he said. That’s Alliance
the analyst said. LPDDR has solved some of the power problems that Memory’s niche — providing customers with a reliable second source
originally kept DRAM out of many portable applications. and fallback as they continue to use higher-density memories. When
“It used to be that SRAM was for low-density, low-power, and fast vendors tag a memory as EOL as they focus on fewer yet bigger custom-
applications, but DRAM’s improvements have nibbled away at those ers with fewer product numbers, Alliance can continue to deliver.
markets,” Handy said. “This Micron’s decision to stop production of some memory types creates
As memory technologies means that there is now a opportunities for smaller players, Bagby noted. Alliance is adding more
vibrant market for low-
products across memory types, including DRAM, SRAM, and NOR flash.
expand into new realms density DRAM that previously Meanwhile, the company is meeting demand for 4G and 8G DDR4,
such as persistence, didn’t exist.” for example. “We’re in the mainstream; customers are wanting DDR4
because of the processors,” said Bagby.
Major memory vendors will
legacy products remain continue to pursue Alliance Memory is now an authorized reseller for Micron’s M29F 5-V
relevant, a function leading-edge densities parallel NOR flash devices, which Micron has discontinued. Micron will
continue to produce devices for Alliance but will fill only new orders
because they are fine-tuned
of their simplicity, to build hundreds of millions placed through mid-2021. Beyond that date, there’s an opportunity for
the reseller to shift customers to an Alliance part.
of identical parts to fill
reliability, and billion-dollar orders. “It’s less Legacy memory vendors offer predictable pricing and long-term cus-
longevity. efficient for them to go after tomer support, which is important considering that new designs still
use older memories. For example, early DDR, SRAM, and NOR flash are
smaller opportunities,” said
Handy. “Yet there are lots of being used in medical, industrial, and smart-home applications.
these smaller opportunities out there, and they can be more profitable “We’re getting way more new designs on DDR3,” Bagby said.
than the bigger part of the business.” Demand for DDR3 memory is growing for non-smartphone and
Hence, he predicts that legacy memory companies such as Alliance non-tablet designs such as medical devices and industrial platforms.
Memory and others can still turn a tidy profit churning out commodity “We’re growing in SDRAM, we’re growing in DDR1, and we’re going to
memory devices. have a huge growth on DDR2 because of the Samsung EOL,” said Bagby.
It was the EOL-ing of still-viable memories that prompted CEO Demand for legacy memories doesn’t always stem from memory
David Bagby to launch Alliance Memory. Bagby had worked at replaced in older equipment; there are processor vendors targeting
Samsung, which recently announced that it was exiting the DDR2 medical and industrial systems that are still designed around DDR3
DRAM business. technology. That equipment doesn’t require DDR4, and vendors like
It’s not entirely clear when a memory falls into the legacy category, Alliance Memory don’t want to compete with larger vendors. “That’s
said Bagby. So far, DDR3 has yet to move into the category, though it why they’re developing different processors with different memory
really comes down to each supplier’s strategy. In the past few years, for requirements,” said Bagby.

DECEMBER 2020 | www.eetimes.eu