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Cypress forms magnetic RAM subsidiary
By Robert Ristelhueber
05/02/2002 12:13 PM EST
URL:
http://www.ebnews.com/showArticle?articleID=2915729
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has formed a subsidiary to develop
magnetic RAMs using technology licensed from a start-up company
located in Eden Prairie, Minn.
The creation of Silicon Magnetic Systems in San Jose was disclosed
today at Cypress' annual meeting. The product line has the potential
of developing into a $100 million business over the next few years,
said T.J. Rodgers, chief executive officer.
Cypress will be competing with a number of companies, including
IBM, Motorola and Infineon, to commercialize large density MRAMs.
"They don't exist yet, and nobody's quite sure how to make them
exist," Rodgers said. "I believe it's going to work and I believe
we'll be first to make it work."
The company is pumping $22 million in research and development
this year to bring a product to market, roughly 10% of Cypress'
total R&D budget. The goal is to bring a working memory to Cypress'
sales conference in August, he said. "I hope to have 256,000 bits
by the end of the year."
Rodgers said that MRAM could offer the best features of static
RAM and flash memory. Since it has a small cell, they can be made
made big, cheap and fast, with infinite endurance, he said.
Cypress recently entered into a technology exchange agreement
with NVE Corp. Under the pact,
Cypress made an equity investment in NVE, and the companies gain
rights to each other's MRAM technology.
Cypress invested $6.228 million in NVE in exchange for 3.433 million
shares of NVE common stock, with an option to buy up to an additional
two million shares for $3 per share. NVE will nominate a Cypress
executive for election to its Board of Directors.
In addition to Cypress, NVE has technology agreements with Agilent
Technologies, Motorola, and Honeywell International. NVE retains
the right to license its technology to other companies.
Longtime Cypress executive Jeff Kaszubinski has been named CEO
of Silicon Magnetic Systems.
Separately, Cypress is exploring several options to get into the
manufacturing of 300mm wafers. "We're currently running at half
capacity, but I anticipate a year from now we'll be straining" to
meet demand, Rodgers said. Eventually, having 300mm capacity is
"where we've got to be. If you don't do 12-inch, you're not a silicon
company."
Building a dedicated 300mm-wafer fab on its own, however, isn't
economically feasible, he said. "We'll need to partner to reduce
the risk." The partner would likely be in a different type of chip
business, so that there's less chance both companies will be hurt
at the same time because of fluctuations in the market, Rodgers
added.
Another option would be to make an investment in an existing foundry
company, or add 300mm capability to its fab in Minnesota. At this
point, the latter option is most likely to happen, with one of the
other two approaches also adopted, Rodgers said.
On the subject of Bluetooth, Rodgers said that that market won't
take off until the silicon can be sold for $5, half of the current
price. "I think we can compete in Bluetooth at $5 and be real happy,"
he said. Cypress isn't shipping a product in that market yet, Rodgers
said.
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