micron

When I finally upgraded my desktop computer's hard drive to an SSD, I nearly slapped myself for not doing it sooner. There's just something so magical about your computer booting up in less than 10 seconds, or watching games load in a blink of an eye.

Memory makers Crucial and Micron released a video that shows the manufacturing process behind the SSD, and in some ways, the speedy drive represents a work of art. … Read more

Micron Technology today announced a terabyte-class solid-state drive for under $600.

The 2.5-inch 960GB Crucial M500 SSD will be initially priced under $600, Micron said today.

The M500 solid-state drive uses a SATA 6-gigabit-per-second controller to deliver up to 80,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS).

The drive's sequential read and write speeds reach up to 500 megabytes per second (MB/s) and 400 MB/s, respectively.

Drives in the 2.5-inch form factor will be available in 120GB, 240GB, 480GB and 960GB capacities. The smaller M.2 and mSATA form factors will be available in 120GB, … Read more

Crucial announced today a bevy of solid-state drives for skinny gadgets ranging up to 256GB.

Sold under the Crucial brand name (the flash memory used in the SSDs is manufactured by parent company Micron Technology), the m4 drives deliver the performance of mainstream SSDs but in a much smaller 1.2 x 2.0 inch (3cm x 5cm) mSATA size -- the package typically used in ultrabooks and tablets.

SSDs are faster than standard spinning hard disk drives found in many laptops.

The m4 can be used as an upgrade to a device with an mSATA-compatible SSD or act as a cache to boost the performance of an existing magnetic hard disk drive. … Read more

Micron will become the No. 2 maker of memory chips worldwide, second only to Samsung as it is set to buy Elpida Memory, a big supplier to Apple.

The Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker will purchase bankrupt Elpida for $2.5 billion, instantly doubling its share of the memory chip market to about 24 percent. Market leader Samsung has about a 42 percent share.

Elpida was formed in 1999 when NEC and Hitachi merged their memory chip businesses. But the price volatility of the memory market forced it to file for bankruptcy in February with $5.6 billion of debt, despite having … Read more

An Apple-related report from Taipei-based DigiTimes lopped $10 billion off Samsung's market value, according to Reuters.

The Taipei-based publisher said on Tuesday that Apple has placed "huge orders for mobile DRAM" chips with Elpida, a Samsung rival.

That news alone drove Samsung's shares down 6 percent, wiping the $10 billion off the market value on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

It also drove memory maker Hynix's shares almost 9 percent lower, the biggest one-day drop in nine months.

Taipei-based DigiTimes is known generally as an Asian manufacturer mouthpiece, with a flair for airing supplier grievances and … Read more

Micron on Thursday confirmed that it is in discussions to acquire Japan-based Elpida, one of the largest memory chip manufacturers in the world.

"Micron Technology...today confirmed it is engaged in discussions with Elpida Memory's trustees to acquire Elpida's business," the Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker said in a statement.

Elpida was formed in 1999 when NEC and Hitachi merged their memory chip businesses. But the price volatility of the memory market eventually took its toll, and the company filed for bankruptcy in February with $5.6 billion of debt, despite having become the world's third-largest maker … Read more

Looking into the future, concept artists often equip their dream iPhones with built-in pico projectors. That feature probably isn't coming to an iPhone anytime soon, but Micron Technology's upcoming $99 Pop Video pico projector accessory may be the next best thing. … Read more

Micron Technology has updated its RealSSD C400 series of solid-state drives for small mSATA packages.

Basically, Micron is delivering the same performance of previous C400 products but in a 1.2 x 2.0 inch (3cm x 5cm) mSATA size -- the size typically used in thin laptops.

SSDs are faster than the standard spinning hard disk drives found in mainstream laptops (and often a lot faster).

The higher-capacity Micron models deliver the best performance. For example, the 256GB version has a read rate of 500 megabytes per second (MB/s) and write speed of 260 MB/s. The smaller-capacity … Read more

Nvidia and Rambus have settled a longstanding patent license dispute.

The agreement covers a "broad range" of chip products offered by Nvidia and settles all outstanding claims, including resolution of past use of Rambus' patented innovations, the companies said. The term of the agreement is five years.

Though neither financial nor technological details were disclosed, the dispute between the two companies has not exactly been private.

In 2008, Rambus sued Nvidia, accusing the graphics chip supplier of violating 17 Rambus-held patents on memory controllers. At that time, Rambus claimed that chipsets, graphics processers, and media communication processors across … Read more