“We consider ourselves leaders in DRAMs,” said Bernd Lienhard, vice president of memory products for Infineon (Munich). “For the NAND market, we’re followers. We’re in the catch-up mode.”

Infineon is currently ramping up a 1-gigabit, NAND-based flash-memory line, built around technology licensed from Israel’s Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. Although Infineon is still pursuing this market, the company is focusing more on DRAMs amid a plan to spin-off the entire memory unit.

“Our focus is DRAMs, DRAMs, DRAMs,” Lienhard said in an interview. “This year, we are focusing on becoming the best DRAM maker in the world.”

Last year, Infineon confirmed that it will spin out its memory business by July 2006 and will then look to an initial public offering of stock. It will then focus on its logic division, continuing to target the automotive, industrial electronics and communications sectors.

Infineon has stated that the company will spin off its memory operations on July 1. Wolfgang Ziebart, Infineon’s president and chief executive, recently said an IPO is the most attractive solution while adding that a final decision has not yet been taken. As of last week, the company has not changed its stance or plan in the segment.

If or when the memory unit does spin-off from the parent organization, the organization will consist of both DRAM and flash parts. In 2005, Infineon was the world’s fourth largest DRAM maker, behind Samsung, Hynix and Micron, according to Gartner Inc. Infineon’s DRAM sales dropped much faster than the market average by 9.1 percent, according to the research firm.

At the same time, Infineon fell from fifth to seventh place in the NAND flash rankings in 2005, according to iSuppli Corp.

Infineon appears to be missing the market window in NAND, which is exploding due to huge demand for MP3 players, USB flash drives and other products. And its DRAM rivals — Hynix, Micron and Samsung — are benefiting from the boom.

However, in its current product generation, Infineon jumped from the 170-nm to the 110-nm node. And going forward, the company plans to move its NAND production from the 110-nm to the 70-nm node, thereby skipping the 90-nm generation.

In 2005, Saifun reached an agreement with Infineon. Under the terms, Infineon obtained a new license for the use of Saifun’s NROM technology. As part of that agreement, Infineon acquired Saifun’s share in their joint venture, dubbed Infineon Technologies Flash (IFL).

Incorporated in Infineon products under the trade name TwinFlash, Saifun’s NROM technology stores two bits in one transistor cell. Compared to competing single-bit-per-cell floating-gate technologies with equivalent process structures, TwinFlash claims to offers 40 percent smaller die sizes due to its two-bit-per-cell approach, as well as lower mask levels.

By: DocMemory
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