Flash memory maker Numonyx is launching a line of NOR flash memory chips, which are used to store the software and operating systems for electronic products, at a time when the flash memory industry is facing a profound crisis. The company's announcement is good news for Israel, since one of the new range of memory products is to be produced at its Fab 1 facility in Kiryat Gat, formerly the Fab 18 which it inherited from Intel, which owns a 43% stake in Numonyx.
Numonyx has not had much cause for cheer since it was jointly launched by Intel and STMicroelectronics last year. Falling prices and uncertainty over demand for flash memories created a negative atmosphere in the market, and Numonyx received no grace period. It was recently reported that the company fired 100 people, most of them contract employees, out of its 1,200-strong workforce.
Numonyx said yesterday that the flash Memory line of products is "the industry’s first 65 nanometer NOR memory product with a density of up to 2Gb." The company inherited the NOR flash production lithography from Intel, although 65 nanometer production is not new to either Numonyx or its competitors in the NOR flash market. The company said on a previous occasion that it would move to 45 nanometer lithography, the latest technology to be introduced in the industry, in the second half of the year.
Numonyx general manager for Israel Yonathan Wand said the latest family of products was the first to be developed exclusively by Numonyx. "The fact that the products are to be made in Israel is further proof of the importance of the Israel fab in Numonyx's overall production operations," he added.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 30, 2008
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