SK hynix sets up NAND design center

2012-09-07 By Cho Mu-hyun

SK hynix launched a solutions design center for chips that go into mobile devices Thursday.

The semiconductor maker said that it opened the Flash Solution Design Center at SK U-Tower in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, which will focus on designing hardware controllers and software. Controllers work with device processors to boost flash memory speed and reliability.

The firm said it expects the strategic location of the center, between Seoul and its facilities at Icheon and Cheongju, to create “various synergy effects.” It added that software will also be developed to satisfy the specific request of its customers.

SK Group affiliate SK C&C, a systems integration company, is headquartered in the same building.

The cooperative development with Link A Media Devices (LAMD), a storage solutions and controller maker based in California which hynix acquired in June, will also be housed in the center.

“The acquisition of LAMD opens up an opportunity for hynix to become a NAND solutions provider in eMMCs (embedded multimedia cards) and SSDs (solid-state drives),” said a recent report by equity research agency Credit Suisse. “Hynix’s NAND strategy has been shifting toward a richer product mix.” SSD solutions are aimed at manufacturers to increase storage density and reduce costs, while eMMCs allow the viewing of high quality media on devices.

Alongside the purchase of LAMD, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker recently acquired Italian NAND developer Ideaflash and turned it into a research center.

“Going forward, the Flash Solution Design Center will become important base for SK hynix’s NAND flash business,” said SK hynix CEO Kwon Oh-chul. “We will increase our business competitiveness through the cooperative work of our excellent talents.”

SK hynix produces dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash chips, earning 75 percent and 25 percent of its total revenue from them respectively.

It is a top-tier DRAM maker and though they are still its mainstay, NAND flash’s importance is on the rise, an area where the company is slightly behind its competitors. NAND chips are used in mobile and computing solutions like touch-screen mobile devices and notebooks.

The importance of controllers that increase the reliability of NAND flashes is growing as the chips’ uses are widening to more and more diverse and portable products.