NOR flash industry to see another wave of consolidation, says Macronix

The NOR flash memory industry will be pushed into another wave of consolidation with the number of suppliers reduced to 2-3, according to Macronix International president Chih-Yuan Lu.

The target applications of NOR flash chips are not as diversified as those of their NAND flash counterparts, said Lu. The market for NOR chips with 1Gb and higher densities has taken a backseat to the current mainstream NAND chips, for instance, Lu indicated.

Meanwhile, in the mass-market smartphone sector, NAND flash will certainly be the mainstream memory type making NOR flash much less favorable, Lu believes.

With the NOR flash market set to reduce in size, producers of the memory will have to explore ways of supporting their competitiveness, including possible mergers or acquisitions, Lu pointed out. The shrinking market will also likely encourage some suppliers to leave on concerns about their future growth, Lu said.

The first wave of consolidation in the NOR flash industry took place when Spansion and Numonyx were both created, Lu pointed out. Spansion was formed by the integration of AMD's and Fujitsu's flash memory businesses, while Numonyx was founded as a joint venture between Intel and STMicroelectronics.

Numonyx was later acquired by Micron Technology while Microchip Technology bought out Silicon Storage Technology, Lu said. In addition, Samsung in 2012 announced the "EOL" of NOR flash products, which then triggered another wave of consolidation in the industry, Lu observed.

To mitigate the impact of NOR flash industry uncertainty, Macronix has stepped up efforts to diversify its offerings, Lu noted. Macronix has been developing a number of new memory technologies associated with embedded NAND flash devices and 3D ICs, Lu disclosed. The company is scheduled to roll out a 3D IC prototype in 2016, Lu added.