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eveperro
I have heard that Apple and Nokia are not getting along lately... What's up with ...
eveperro
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Report: Apple buys Anobit for $390 million
Peter Clarke
1/12/2012 8:49 AM EST
LONDON – Consumer electronics giant Apple has bought flash memory controller startup Anobit Technologies Ltd. for about $390 million, according to Bloomberg report that referenced two unnamed Anobit shareholders as its sources.
The deal was signed on Jan. 6, and for a sum below that being sought by Anobit, which had been previously reported as between $400 million and $500 million.
Anobit (Herzeliya, Israel) has developed NAND flash memory controller technology that can improve the apparent endurance – the number of reads and writes flash memory can perform. The raw endurance performance of flash memory reduces dramatically with reduction in the geometry of the manufacturing process technology, to the point where flash memory becomes unsuitable for many applications.
The improved endurance can be used to allow less flash memory die to be used to attain a certain level of guaranteed memory capacity. Apple is the world's largest purchaser of NAND flash memory (about 23 percent of global supply) for inclusion its smartphones and tablet computers and therefore exclusive control of the Anobit technology could provide a significant advantage for the company
Anobit was founded in 2006 to make solid-state drives. It's MSP (Memory Signal Processing) technology is a combination of error correction and memory management schemes that compensates for errors and evens out wear thereby allowing higher apparent performance.
Anobit is believed to have received more than $72 million from venture capital firms including Pitango, Battery Ventures, Intel Capital and Micron Technologies and has about 200 staff.
In August Anobit announced that it had shipped more than 20 million flash controllers and that its MSP2025 supported up to 256-Gbyte of NAND flash implemented on 20-nm and sub-20-nm process technology.
Anobit entered the Silicon 60, EE Times' list of emerging startup companies at version 12.0 in 2011. The latest edition of the Silicon 60 is version 12.5, which is the topic of a detailed technology and employment digital edition which can be accessed via http://e.ubmelectronics.com/Silicon60/index.html
Related links and articles:
Report: Apple in talks to buy flash memory firm
Anobit battles 'plummeting' flash endurance
Intel funds SSD maker Anobit
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chanj
1/12/2012 12:36 PM EST
Good for Apple. Solid Stage Storage is no doubt an important components now and in the future. Endurance of NAND flash is a key to the future of computing. Apple has made a good step.
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hm
1/12/2012 9:24 PM EST
Fisr PA Semi and now Anobit. Apple will soon become becom semiconductor vendor and challenge Intel.
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elctrnx_lyf
1/13/2012 2:01 AM EST
Good move by Apple to actually take place in the future innovation of hardware.
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goafrit
1/13/2012 8:58 AM EST
Nice one Apple but I never knew this NAND memory has good value for $390m. Thought this is a commodity business, but Apple is wiser.
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MeirG
1/14/2012 7:05 AM EST
The NAND flash itself is. The controller that uses it isn't!
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selinz
1/13/2012 2:48 PM EST
Anobit got their payday. I'm sure that they are happy.
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t.alex
1/13/2012 10:59 PM EST
Probably Apple will stop Anobit from selling to others as a strategic move.
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MeirG
1/14/2012 7:05 AM EST
Did they stopped PA-Semi?
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Frank Eory
1/14/2012 4:01 PM EST
Smart move. They have the former PA-Semi engineers doing first the A4, then the A5 and most likely working on the A6, and now they have another hardware team with unique flash controller IP to extend the useful life of NAND flash.
But this also raises an interesting question. A big part of Apple's sales come from its loyal fans who buy every new generation of Apple product, or perhaps every other new generation. What happens to all the older gen devices that still work perfectly -- still have useful flash memory life, useful battery life, etc.?
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mickinuk
1/16/2012 12:49 AM EST
Most of the old iPhones are locked to AT&T and there is no unlock method for the current modem. When sold it looks like they re-flash the baseband and sell them as unlocked phones in India and China.
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agk
1/16/2012 8:14 AM EST
Anobit technologies is lucky because now more funding to the Anobit team is possible by Apple to do advanced research and bring out more innovative devices.
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Sanjib.Acharya
1/16/2012 11:33 AM EST
I think this is a great move by Apple. Since all Apple products strongly rely on the FLASH as the storage, acquiring Anobit to start an in-house development for the FLASH controller and at the same time adding 200 more brilliant engineers to its chip design work force is great. For Anobit...it should be great to be part of Apple!
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eveperro
10/18/2012 6:10 AM EDT
I believe that Apple is going to take all everything. Anyway, I think that this is not a bad thing because Apple makes quality products, most of the time.
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eveperro
10/25/2012 5:00 AM EDT
I have heard that Apple and Nokia are not getting along lately... What's up with that?
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