Micron to list Utah computer chip factory as it changes strategy

LEHI (Reuters) – Micron Technology said on Tuesday it would list a chip factory in Lehi, Utah, as it ceased manufacturing a type of memory chip it had jointly developed with Intel earlier. is almost ten years old.

Lehi is the only Idaho-based Micron plant to manufacture what it calls Xpoint 3D memory, a form of memory chip that aimed to strike a balance between the two dominant forms of memory chip: DRAM, which is fast. but expensive, and NAND, which is slower but cheaper. The plant will be sold in a deal expected to close by the end of this year, company officials told Reuters.

Micron introduced its first technology-based products in 2019 with a set of solid-state drives for data center customers. Sumit Sadana, chief commercial officer of Micron, told Reuters in an interview that they received a lukewarm response from customers because they would have had to rewrite large parts of their software to take advantage of the new type of memory.

Low demand means Micron cannot expand manufacturing at a volume high enough to justify the costs of continuing to develop the chips, Sadana said. He said the plant’s underutilization is expected to cost Micron $ 400 million this year.

After exiting the Xpoint 3D market, Micron plans to redirect its development efforts to take advantage of a new, faster industry standard for connecting memory chips to computer chips called the Compute Express Link.

“We will have a (return) on this new investment which will be much higher because it will be easier for the software ecosystem to adopt it,” Sadana said.

Micron jointly developed Xpoint 3D memory with Intel from 2012. The company currently has a supply agreement with Intel that runs until the end of this year. Intel has announced plans to develop future generations of chips, for which it uses a different brand name called “Optane,” at one of its factories in New Mexico.

Sadana said Micron would retain all intellectual property associated with 3D Xpoint but was in contact with several potential buyers for the plant. While he couldn’t name the parts or how much the plant might sell, he said bidders could go beyond memory companies to include manufacturers of computer chips, analog chips, or contract manufacturers of fleas.

“Now is a good time to have an asset like this available, as several companies are just completely operated from a supply capacity perspective,” Sadana said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, editing by Alexandra Hudson)

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