Cypress puts MRAM business up for sale
Cypress chief executive officer TJ Rodgers said that the company had take the decision because it did not think that MRAM would be able to compete with static random access memory (SRAM). This is in spite of the fact that Silicon Magnetic Systems had recently successfully sampled fully functional MRAMs to seven original equipment manufacturers.
"It is seemingly contradictory that we would sell the MRAM business at its first moment of success," said Rodgers. "But based on our latest calculations, we no longer believe that MRAM technology will be able to successfully attack the SRAM market, leaving MRAM as a niche technology with higher bit pricing than that of SRAM."
The big problem with the technology - according to Rodgers - is that the memory cells needed to achieve high density MRAM are difficult to design and manufacture.
"While a niche MRAM business could be a profitable addition to Cypress's portfolio of products, we currently have more attractive places to invest than in the capital-intensive MRAM business."
