Micron Technology has unveiled memory and storage innovations across its portfolio based on its 176-layer NAND and 1a (1-alpha) DRAM technology, as well as what the company claims is the industry's first Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.1 solution for automotive applications.

Micron president and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra made the announcements during a Computex keynote, in which he shared a vision for computing innovation and the central role memory and storage play in enabling enterprises to seize the full potential of the data economy.

Micron announced volume delivery of its first PCIe Gen4 solid-state drives (SSDs) built with 176-layer NAND. The company is also shipping 1a node-based LPDDR4x DRAM this month. LPDDR4x is the latest JEDEC specification for fourth-generation low-power DRAM with improved input/output voltage for substantially lower power, making it ideal for mobile computing devices.

The company's latest SSDs, the Micron 3400 and 2450, deliver high performance and design flexibility with low power consumption to enable all-day use from professional workstations to ultrathin notebooks. The Micron 3400 SSD provides twice the read throughput and up to 85% higher write throughput, unleashing demanding applications like real-time 3D rendering, computer-aided design, gaming and animation. For customers seeking the best value with PCIe Gen4 performance, the Micron 2450 SSD delivers a highly responsive user experience for everyday use. The 2450 SSD is available in three form factors, as small as the 22 x 30mm M.2, to deliver immense design flexibility.

In Micron's statement, Chris Kilburn, corporate VP and GM of AMD's client component business unit, said, "AMD was first to adopt PCIe 4.0 desktop processor and chipset support. As the ecosystem of AMD-supported platforms continues to grow, we are delighted to see partners like Micron expand their Gen4 SSD portfolio."

Micron also disclosed its 3400 and 2450 SSDs are on the Intel Modern Standby Partner Portal Platform Component List and meet the open labs' SSD test requirements of Intel Project Athena. Additionally, both Micron SSDs have been validated for AMD's PCIe Power Speed Policy and Microsoft Windows Modern Standby.

In addition, Micron has kicked off shipments of LPDDR4x in volume on its leading 1a node since the start of June 2021. The company introduced its initial 1a node DRAM products in January 2021. Micron has also completed validation of its 1a-based DDR4 on leading data center platforms, including 3rd Generation AMD EPYC. Both are in volume production at Micron's advanced DRAM fabrication facilities in Taiwan, including its newly established A3 facility in Taichung.

Amid rising remote work and schooling trends, Micron has partnered closely with leading system providers around the globe to meet the soaring demand for PCs. These efforts include deep collaboration with leading Taiwan OEM Acer on integrating 1a-based LPDDR4x and DDR4 into Acer systems.

"We are working closely with Micron to introduce their most advanced 1a DRAM process node in Acer's systems and provide high-performance, power-efficient personal computers for more people to stay connected across the world," said Acer chairman and CEO Jason Chen.

Micron also announced that it is sampling 128GB and 256GB densities of its 96-layer NAND as part of its new portfolio of UFS 3.1 managed NAND products for automotive applications. With infotainment systems evolving to include high-resolution displays and human-machine interface capabilities based on artificial intelligence (AI), Micron's UFS 3.1 portfolio provides much-needed high-throughput and low-latency storage.

Micron UFS 3.1 offers two times faster read performance than UFS 2.1, enabling fast boot times and minimizing latency for data-intensive in-vehicle infotainment and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). UFS 3.1 also provides 50% faster sustained write performance to keep pace with real-time local storage needs of growing sensor and camera data for Level 3+ ADAS systems and black box applications.

"Micron's UFS 3.1 portfolio is uniquely engineered and designed to meet the rigorous reliability and performance requirements of automotive environments, which equips OEMs to raise the bar for personalized, adaptive and context-aware digital cockpits. We look forward to working with Micron Technology to optimize its leading storage and memory solutions for use across our automotive platforms," noted Vasanth Waran, senior director of product management at Qualcomm Technologies.

By: DocMemory
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