Lexar Professional 1000x 128GB SDXC UHS-II Card (tidied)

Crucial SD Cards 2007 1GB and 2GB (front)

Micron Technology, Inc. is an American producer of

computer memory In computing, memory is a device or system that is used to store information for immediate use in a computer or related computer hardware and digital electronic devices. The term ''memory'' is often synonymous with the term '' primary storag ...

and

computer data storage Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a comput ...

including

dynamic random-access memory Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-ox ...

flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both use ...

, and

USB flash drive Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A bro ...

s. It is headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Its consumer products, including the Ballistix line of memory modules, are marketed under the Crucial brand. Micron and

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...

together created IM Flash Technologies, which produced NAND flash memory. It owned Lexar between 2006 and 2017.

History

1978–1999

Micron was founded in Boise, Idaho, in 1978 by Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson, and Doug Pitman as a semiconductor design consulting company. Startup funding was provided by local Idaho businessmen Tom Nicholson, Allen Noble, Rudolph Nelson, and Ron Yanke. Later it received funding from Idaho billionaire

J. R. Simplot John Richard Simplot (; January 4, 1909 – May 25, 2008) was an American entrepreneur and businessman best known as the founder of the J. R. Simplot Company, a Soda Springs, Idaho-based agricultural supplier specializing in potato products. In ...

, whose fortune was made in the

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

business. In 1981, the company moved from consulting to manufacturing with the completion of its first wafer fabrication unit ("Fab 1"), producing 64K DRAM chips. In 1984, the company went public. In 1994, founder Joe Parkinson retired as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and

Steve Appleton Steven R. Appleton (March 31, 1960 – February 3, 2012) was the CEO of Micron Technology, based in Boise, Idaho. Born and raised in California, Appleton attended Boise State University, where he was on the tennis team. A lifelong aviation enthus ...

took over as Chairman,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, and CEO. A 1996 3-way merger among ZEOS International, Micron Computer, and Micron Custom Manufacturing Services (MCMS) increased the size and scope of the company; this was followed rapidly with the 1997 acquisition of NetFrame Systems, in a bid to enter the mid-range server industry.

2000–present

In 2000, Gurtej Singh Sandhu and Trung T. Doan at Micron initiated the development of atomic layer deposition high-k films for DRAM memory devices. This helped drive cost-effective implementation of

semiconductor memory Semiconductor memory is a digital electronic semiconductor device used for digital data storage, such as computer memory. It typically refers to devices in which data is stored within metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) memory cells on a si ...

, starting with 90 nm

node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a " knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph * Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, line ...

DRAM. Pitch double-patterning was also pioneered by Gurtej Singh Sandhu at Micron during the 2000s, leading to the development of 30-nm class

NAND flash Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

memory, and it has since been widely adopted by NAND flash and RAM manufacturers worldwide. Micron and Intel created a joint venture in 2005, based in IM Flash Technologies in

Lehi Lehi (; he, לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל ''Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi'', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemie ...

, Utah. The two companies formed another joint venture in 2011, IM Flash Singapore, in Singapore. In 2012, Micron became sole owner of this second joint venture. In 2006, Micron acquired Lexar, an American manufacturer of digital media products. The company again changed leadership in June 2007 with COO

Mark Durcan D. Mark Durcan (born April 28, 1961) is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Micron Technology. Prior to being appointed Micron's CEO in February 2012, he held a variety of positions including process integration engineer, process integration ...

becoming President. In 2008, Micron had converted the Avezzano chip fab, formerly a Texas Instruments DRAM fab, into a production facility for CMOS image sensors sold by Aptina Imaging. In 2008, Micron spun off Aptina Imaging, which was acquired by ON Semiconductor in 2014. Micron retained a stake in the spinoff. The core company suffered setbacks, however, requiring layoffs of 15 percent of its workforce in October 2008, during which period the company also announced the purchase of

Qimonda Qimonda AG ( ) was a German memory company split out of Infineon Technologies (itself a spun off business unit of Siemens AG) on 1 May 2006 to form at the time the second largest DRAM company worldwide, according to the industry research firm ...

's 35.6% stake in Inotera Memories for $400 million. The trend of layoffs and acquisitions continued in 2009 with the termination of an additional 2,000 employees, and the acquisition of the FLCOS microdisplay company Displaytech. Micron agreed to buy flash-chip maker

Numonyx Numonyx was a semiconductor company making flash memories, which was founded on March 31, 2008, by Intel Corporation, STMicroelectronics and Francisco Partners. It was acquired by Micron Technology Micron Technology, Inc. is an Americ ...

for $1.27 billion in stock in February 2010. On February 3, 2012, the CEO,

, died in a small Lancair plane crash in Boise, Idaho. Mark Durcan replaced Appleton as the CEO shortly thereafter, eliminating his former title of President. In 2013, the Avezzano chip fab was sold to LFoundry. In the 2012–2014 period, Micron again went through an acquisition-layoff cycle, becoming the majority shareholder of Inotera Memories, purchasing

Elpida Memory Micron Memory Japan, K.K. is a Japanese subsidiary of Micron Technology. It was formerly known as established in 1999 that developed, designed, manufactured and sold dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) products. It was also a semiconductor foun ...

for $2 billion and the remaining shares in Rexchip, a PC memory chip manufacturing venture between Powerchip and Elpida Memory for $334 million, while announcing plans to lay off approximately 3,000 workers. Through the Elpida acquisition, Micron became a major supplier to Apple Inc. for the iPhone and

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, ...

. In December 2016, Micron finished acquiring the remaining 67% of Inotera, making it a 100% subsidiary of Micron. In April 2017, Micron announced Sanjay Mehrotra as the new President and CEO to replace

. In June 2017, Micron announced it was discontinuing the Lexar retail removable media storage business and putting some or all it up for sale. In August of that year the Lexar brand was acquired by Longsys, a flash memory company based in Shenzhen, China. On December 5, 2017, Micron sued rivals United Microelectronics Corporation and Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. (JHICC) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging infringement on its DRAM patents and intellectual property rights. In May 2018, Micron Technology and Intel launched QLC NAND memory to increase storage density. The company ranked 150th on the Fortune 500 list of largest United States corporations by revenue. In February 2019, the first microSD card with a storage capacity of 1 terabyte (TB) was announced by Micron. As of March 2020, 3.84TB Micron 5210 Ion is the cheapest large capacity SSD in the world. In September 2020, the company introduced the world's fastest discrete graphics memory solution. Working with computing technology leader NVIDIA, Micron debuted GDDR6X in the new NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics processing units (GPUs). In November 2020, the company unveiled a new 176-layer 3D NAND chip. It offers improved read and write latency and is slated to be used in the production of a new generation of solid state drives. On October 22, 2021, Micron closed the sale of IM Flash's Lehi, Utah fab to

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...

for a sale price of US$900 million. With the passage of the CHIPS Act, Micron announced its pledge to invest billions in new manufacturing within the US. In September 2022, Micron announced they would invest $15billion in a new facility in Boise, Idaho. In October 2022, Micron announced a $100billion expansion in Clay, New York.

Carbon footprint

Micron Technology reported total CO₂ emissions (direct and indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 7,141 Kt (+444/+6.6% year-on-year).Alt URL
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References

External links