Micron Technology announced memory and storage innovations across its portfolio based on its 176-layer NAND and 1α (1-alpha) DRAM technology, as well as the industry’s first Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.1 solution for automotive applications.
Micron announced delivery of its first PCIe Gen4 solid-state drives (SSDs) built with the world’s first 176-layer NAND.
The company is shipping the world’s first 1α node-based LPDDR4x DRAM this month. LPDDR4x is the latest JEDEC specification for fourth-generation low-power DRAM with improved input/output voltage for substantially lower power, making it ideal for mobile computing devices.
“As artificial intelligence and 5G reach mainstream deployment, they are creating dramatic new potential for data in the post-pandemic world,” Mehrotra said. “We are debuting new memory and storage solutions that accelerate innovation, from powerful data center servers and faster client devices to intelligent vehicles at the edge,” Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said during a keynote address at the Computex 2021.
Micron PCIe Gen4 SSD
Micron 3400 and 2450 SSDs deliver high performance and design flexibility with low power consumption to enable all-day use from professional workstations to ultrathin notebooks.
Micron 3400 SSD provides twice the read throughput and up to 85 percent higher write throughput.
Micron 2450 SSD is available in three form factors, as small as the 22 x 30mm M.2, to deliver immense design flexibility.
“AMD was first to adopt PCIe 4.0 desktop processor and chipset support. As the ecosystem of AMD-supported platforms continues to grow, we are delighted to see partners like Micron expand their Gen4 SSD portfolio,” said Chris Kilburn, corporate vice president and general manager of the Client Component Business Unit at AMD.
Micron 3400 and 2450 are listed on the Intel Modern Standby Partner Portal Platform Component List and meet the open labs’ SSD test requirements of Intel Project Athena. Both Micron SSDs have been validated for AMD’s PCIe Power Speed Policy and Microsoft Windows Modern Standby.
Micron ships world’s first 1α-based LPDDR4x and DDR4
Micron is shipping LPDDR4x in volume on its 1α node this month, quickly following the introduction of initial 1α node DRAM products in January 2021.
Micron has completed validation of its 1α-based DDR4 on leading data center platforms, including 3rd Generation AMD EPYC. Both are in volume production in Micron’s DRAM fabrication facilities in Taiwan.
Micron 1α-based memory provides advanced technology to power innovation from data-centric workloads on server platforms to consumers’ slim notebooks. 1α enables power-efficiency improvements for memory, bringing mobility advantages for notebooks by enabling longer battery life both for the work- and study-from-home environments.
“At Acer, our mission has always been to break the barriers between people and technology,” said Jason Chen, chairman and CEO of Acer. “We are working closely with Micron to introduce their most advanced 1α DRAM process node in Acer’s systems and provide high-performance, power-efficient personal computers for more people to stay connected across the world.”
Micron said 1α node process provides a 40 percent improvement in memory density and up to 20 percent improvement in power savings for mobile use cases when compared to previous 1z node LPDDR4x. This power savings is ideal for mobile phones that must preserve battery life, particularly with memory-intensive use cases like capturing photos and video.
Micron is sampling 128GB and 256GB densities of its 96-layer NAND as part of its new portfolio of UFS 3.1 managed NAND products for automotive applications.
Micron UFS 3.1 offers two times faster read performance than UFS 2.1, enabling fast boot times and minimizing latency for data-intensive in-vehicle infotainment and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
UFS 3.1 provides 50 percent faster sustained write performance to keep pace with real-time local storage needs of growing sensor and camera data for Level 3+ ADAS systems and black box applications.
Market research and strategy consulting firm Yole Developpement (Yole) projects the market for NAND in automotive to grow to $3.6 billion in 2025, nearly quadrupling from $0.9 billion in 2020.
