Intel, Micron May Officially Part Ways on 3D XPoint Memory Tech Soon (Updated)

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(Image credit: Micron)

Update, 10/19/18, 10:00 a.m. PT: Intel sent us a statement, saying that Micron will not be able to purchase its stake in IM Flash Technologies at least until January 1, 2019:

“Micron’s statement is a pre-announcement. They can’t officially make the call until January 1, 2019. The operation of the IMFT factory would not change until after the close of the call, which is at Intel’s discretion for up to one year. There is no near-term change to Intel’s plans in the coming quarters—this has been part of our planning for some time now. Intel has a number of manufacturing options available to us within the time window. We’ve been shipping a broad portfolio of Intel Optane technology products for over a year with a continually expanding product line. We will continue to lead the industry with this exciting new technology.”

Original, 10/19/18, 8:54 a.m. PT:

Micron plans to acquire Intel’s stake in the Intel-Micron (IM) Flash Technologies joint venture the two companies formed together in 2006, according to a Reuters report this week. The future of 3D XPoint, a non-volatile memory tech used in Intel Optane and Micron QuantX, remains relatively uncertain as the two companies start working on it separately.

Micron Will Own IM Flash Technologies

After the acquisition is complete, Micron will own the full IM Flash Technologies division. The company will pay $1.5 billion for Intel’s stake, as well as take over Intel’s $1 billion debt to the joint venture. When the two companies formed the venture back in 2006, they each contributed $1.2 billion.

The two companies formed IM Flash Technologies when they started working on 3D XPoint memory together. Both Intel and Micron have launched their own 3D XPoint brands, as mentioned above, but only Intel is selling 3D XPoint storage and started earlier this year. Micron is going to wait for generation 2 of the technology to be ready before selling its own 3D XPoint SSDs in 2019.

Reports have said that Intel’s Optane sales have been quite disappointing, presumably due to multiple reasons, including product-market mismatch, high prices for an unproven technology and competitors, such as Samsung coming out with Z-NAND flash alternatives, that are almost as good and much cheaper.

3D XPoint Challenges

It didn’t help that Intel initially promised that its 3D XPoint flash technology would be “1,000x” faster than flash technology. Presumably, Intel was comparing Optane to the lowest speed flash tech found on the market (in microSDs and such) and not the fastest available SSDs at the time, but that’s not the impression it gave technology enthusiasts and media.

This July, Intel and Micron announced that they would cease collaborating on 3D XPoint after the 2nd generation technology is finalized and manufacture and sell their own 3D XPoint storage technology independently.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra revealed in a previous earnings call that the sales of 3D XPoint wafers to Intel were disappointing, so the company may eventually stop selling the tech to Intel.

It will be interesting to see if 3D XPoint’s situation on the market improves or gets worse starting with the 3rd generation, when the two companies will be designing and manufacturing their own variants. However, chances are that the SSD competition will also become more fierce in the coming years, which of course, should be a good thing for consumers.

Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty
    This has been known for a while. However the only thing not known was the possibility of Micron not even selling 3DXpointe wafers to Intel anymore.

    Its a new idea and will take time to adopt. If it ever gets wider adoption it could easily drop in price.

    The only thing I want to see out of this is Optane memory. I thing 4 512GB DIMMs would be more than enough for a system.
    Reply
  • Nintendork
    They need to focus on what's important for the nv-ram, low latency, random 4k performance and endurance.

    For consumer 100-500GB with PB+ endurance. So it can be used for OS, cache, virtual ram without remorse.
    Reply
  • Nintendork
    The 16GB M10 model got the same endurance (365GB) as the 118GB M10, it can mean the endurance on bigger model is crippled on purpose.
    Reply
  • mlee 2500
    I bought an Intel Optane 905 and looking forward to using it. It was expensive, but at nearly half a Terabyte it will be sufficient to serve as my OS/system disk for years to come, and I won't have to worry about endurance.

    My understanding from research is that we don't see allot of the full potential benefits from Optane and other newer, faster NVMe type drives because Operating Systems aren't currently designed to take advantage of them (even with updated drivers), and in many ways their storage interfaces and software haven't evolved from the days of mechanical platters.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Our 3dxpoint will perform 100 trillion times faster than a potato battery!

    We can say any number we want as long as the comparison isn't realistic!
    Reply
  • rantoc
    @MLEE 2500: Don't expect much difference for OS/Program drive, the 480gb 900P i got only excels when i'm doing zillion sub-ops db queries. As os/program drive it won't even start to flex its wings, shaved off perhaps a sec of boot time when clocking it vs the 970 pro. If endurance is a factor its a good pick but dont expect much in the performance department unless you really pound the drive really hard.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    21418939 said:
    I bought an Intel Optane 905 and looking forward to using it. It was expensive, but at nearly half a Terabyte it will be sufficient to serve as my OS/system disk for years to come, and I won't have to worry about endurance.

    My understanding from research is that we don't see allot of the full potential benefits from Optane and other newer, faster NVMe type drives because Operating Systems aren't currently designed to take advantage of them (even with updated drivers), and in many ways their storage interfaces and software haven't evolved from the days of mechanical platters.

    NVMe was actually design wholly for SSDs and M.2/PCIe SSDs especially. However you are somewhat correct. The biggest advantage to Intels 900 series SSDs is how they work. They don't suffer from a lot of downsides others do in mixed workloads so the experience is more consistent and smooth.
    Reply
  • mlee 2500
    21422141 said:
    @MLEE 2500: Don't expect much difference for OS/Program drive, the 480gb 900P i got only excels when i'm doing zillion sub-ops db queries. As os/program drive it won't even start to flex its wings, shaved off perhaps a sec of boot time when clocking it vs the 970 pro. If endurance is a factor its a good pick but dont expect much in the performance department unless you really pound the drive really hard.

    Yeah, I suspect as much. The irony will be that while at work I do a thousand things which would benefit from Optane but don't have it available, while my home PC usage won't even notice having it over an EVO. But the 905p sticker price really wasn't that bad relative to how long it will last me (several years most likely).

    If I really want to unleash it I could install it as the ZFS Zil device on my FreeNAS box, I suppose. Like I need faster NAS at home for anything.



    Reply