SlashGear

Everspin intend to launch 16MB MRAM chips in 2009, with densities to compete with DRAM and FLASH (NOR) by 2015.  The company, which split off from Freescale to develop the non-volatile memory, is currently the only to have commercially-available MRAM products on the market, in the shape of a 4-bit chip.  It has also just announced byte-wide 1MB and 4MB chips.

“I do believe that Everspin MRAM will have densities to rival DRAM or NOR Flash in that time frame. Everspin MRAM will establish its own set of unique markets and applications rather than simply replace these other memories. MRAM changes system architectures. It eliminates the requirements for multiple memories. You wouldn’t need things like Flash program memory, EEPROM or battery-backed SRAM if your DRAM was non-volatile. I think MRAM will co-exist with NAND Flash as an external storage device” Dr. Saied Teharni, COO, Everspin

MRAM – short for magnetoresistive RAM, or magnetic RAM – uses magnetic charges to store data.  Its benefit is that it requires no ongoing power supply to maintain that data, only to change it.

Currently the Everspin chips are being used in Siemens touch-screen products and the Angstrom Aerospace satellite launched by Japan.  In fact, Everspin products are already being used in storage, industrial automation, energy management, communications, consumer, gaming, transportation and avionics markets.