Both IBM (NYSE:IBM) and the start-up Crocus are very active in the field of MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory). Now the two companies are joining forces in a long term agreement that allows for collaboration and cross licensing of patents, Crocus writes in a press release.
The agreement allows for integration of Crocus’s thermally assisted next-generation MagneticLogicUnit (MLU) technology with IBM’s magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) technology and processing capabilities.
The MLU that was announced a few months ago is based on Crocus’s Thermal Assisted Switching that by many are considered the next generation MRAM scheme.
Crocus will also use IBM’s patent that allow for a high scalability of MRAM that has up until now been a major problem. Crocus plans to offer discrete memory chips that will be manufactured by Crocus Nano Electronics, which is jointly owned by Crocus Technology and Russian RUSNANO. Their joint venture will build a fab in Russia to manufacture the chips using 90 and 65nm process technology.
MRAM is just one of several promising future memory technologies that also include phase change memory, FetRAM as well as Racetrak memory from IBM. All of the future technologies hold promise of a unified memory architecture doing away with much of the current hierarchy.S|A
Mads Ølholm
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