Macronix International Co., Ltd. (MCIX; often shortened to Macronix) is an integrated device manufacturer in the non-volatile memory (NVM) market. The company manufactures NOR Flash, NAND Flash, and ROM products for the consumer, communication, computing, automotive, and networking markets. Its headquarters are located in Taiwan.
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| TWSE: 2337 | |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | |
History
editHeadquartered in Taiwan, Macronix was established in 1989. By 1997, the company was a global supplier of Mask ROM and EPROMs.[1]
In 2012 the company developed a process to prolong the life of solid state drives.[2]
Macronix developed specialized memory chips for the consumer electronics industry, including those used in Nintendo's 3DS and Switch devices,[3] and Samsung's wearable electronic devices.[4]
The company presently has more than 4,000 employees -- approximately one-fifth of whom serve in research and development roles. Macronix's total revenues in 2023 were US$888 million, slightly more than one-half of which was derived from NOR flash, followed by ROM revenues at approximately one-third.
As of March 2024, Macronix has had 9,200 patents granted.
Macronix owns two in-house wafer-manufacturing foundries -- one for 200-nanometer wafers, the other for 300-nanometer wafers. The company also has sales and support branches in Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and China.
Recognizing the market opportunity in proprietary semiconductor designs becoming high-volume, open-market flash memory, Macronix leveraged flash memory customized for specific customers into widely available devices for broader applications.[5]
Macronix has developed partnerships with various microcontroller manufacturers to pair its OctaBus flash memory with the partners’ MCUs.[6]
In the automotive market, Macronix’s automotive-grade ArmorFlash and OctaFlash memory families are being adopted by automotive-electronics semiconductor and system makers such as Nvidia and NXP to bring highly secure data storage to vehicles.[7][8][9]
In 2021, Macronix became the first NVM manufacturer to bring 1.2-volt, 120MHz Serial NOR flash to mass production, contributing to a new generation and broader range of devices requiring ultra-low-power flash memory.[10][11]
Macronix in 2022 introduced its memory-centric computing concept, developed to enable AI-focused computation within flash devices.[12][13] Also in 2022, Macronix received EE Times Asia’s Best Memory Product award for the second consecutive year.[14]
References
edit- ^ Chung-Shing Lee; Michael Pecht (7 February 1997). Electronics Industry in Taiwan. CRC Press. pp. 88–. ISBN 978-0-8493-3170-1.
- ^ "Macronix self-healing SSDs last ten times longer". PC Gamer, Dave James December 05, 2012
- ^ "Nintendo’s mysterious new console may be ditching discs altogether". Tech Insider, Jul. 26, 2016. Ben Gilbert and Tim Mulkerin
- ^ "Macronix shares rise on Samsung news". Taipei News, Apr 17, 2014 Lisa W ang
- ^ "Proprietary Memories Are a High-Risk Endeavor". EE Times, Gary Hilson, April 1, 2024
- ^ "STMicro Using OctaBus Flash Memory from Macronix". Embedded Computing Design, Perry Cohen, April 15, 2021
- ^ "Macronix Joins Forces with NVIDIA to Provide Secure Flash Memory in Autonomous Vehicles". Embedded Computing Design, Laura Dolan, August 7, 2019
- ^ "Program Forges Tighter Bonds Between Automakers and Taiwan Chipmakers". Electronic Design, Murray Slovick, July 18, 2022
- ^ "Macronix octaflash UW Series provides Flash solutions for NXP processors". New Electronics, Neil Tyler, June 29, 2022
- ^ "Macronix brings 120MHz 1.2V Serial NOR Flash memories to mass production". New Electronics, Neil Tyler, December 1, 2021
- ^ "Serial NOR flash needs just 1.2 V". EDN, Susan Nordyk, December 6, 2021
- ^ "Macronix intros compute-in-NAND Storage". Blocks & Files, Chris Mellor, August 12, 2022
- ^ "Memory-Centric Compute Speeds Searches for Machine-Learning Apps". Electronic Design, William Wong, April 24, 2023
- ^ "Macronix Wins Back-to-Back Memory Product of the Year Honors at EE Awards Asia". EE Times, Steven Las Marias, December 14, 2022
External links
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