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  • HStewart - Monday, January 14, 2019 - link

    It sounds like with all the enhancements in Intel labs, and Intel getting out Micron Lab, that Intel does not need this technology.

    I am expecting Intel to announce a new technology that is intended to replace 3D X Point and make it obsolete. Just a guess based on recent Intel announcements.

    But it sounds like Micron does not fit Intel future plans
  • Teckk - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    So, Intel spent years and $$ on something to make it obsolete after the 1st gen of the products itself? What happened to 3DXP DIMMs?
  • HStewart - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Maybe the DIMMs use another process and not from Micron - if I was Intel - I would do that
  • Teckk - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Who has the capability to manufacture 3DXP other than Intel and Micron?
  • deil - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Well it was to slow to grow it, or to greedy to make anyone depend on it....
  • Lord of the Bored - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Umm, I'm not sure how you get "Intel wants out of this fab" from "Micron exercises option to buy Intel's half of a partnership"

    This has nothing to do with Intel's designs. This is purely Micron's show here.
    Intel has the option to tell Micron to hold off until the year 2020. THAT is the extent of their influence on this decision.
  • HStewart - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Basically for news about Intel investing in new - Intel is removing the Fat in its process - in this case Micron stuff.
  • Yojimbo - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    But Intel had no choice one way or the other. It was Micron's choice.
  • edzieba - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Or they'll use the several years (the writing was likely on the wall some time ago) head start + $1.5bn bonus to spin up another line for 3D XPoint. Intel are selling every die IMFT produce, while Micron... aren't. Can'tthink of a good reason to just abandon all the work put into the Chalcogenide process right as the entire industry is beating its head against the Silicon ceiling.
  • HStewart - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    All I saying is Intel does not need Micron anymore - and they likely have a replacement coming.
  • wumpus - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Except that this was Micron's decision. Of course if Intel cared enough, they could presumably cough up enough money (to the point of a hostile takeover of Micron) to keep the fab if they really wanted it. But they weren't willing to fight that hard over a billion+ dollar fab (that isn't bringing them any closer to 10nm).
  • Yojimbo - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    This was entirely Micron's option and not Intel's. Also, Intel plans to continue floating gate. Intel seems to plan to continue 3D XPoint. It is Micron that is switching to charge trap and developing something different from 3D XPoint as a successor to the 2nd gen. of it.
  • Jad77 - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    My house is in that picture, way in the back!
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Woah. You have a nice house...
  • The_Assimilator - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    So this finally confirms what we all knew from the start, XPoint/Optane is DOA.
  • PeachNCream - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    I hope it isn't dead. I've just started to see a few notebook and desktop consumer PCs on the market that pair up a 16GB Optane cache with a mechanical hard drive pop up on a few online retailers. There's no question that the technology in its first generation iteration didn't deliver on much of the hype, but I had my fingers crossed that Intel and Micron would continue to improve on cost and capacity. We very much need a NAND replacement given what the industry is trying to do to stretch 3D NAND out beyond reasonable durability using TLC and QLC. 0.1 DWPD is abysmal compared to Optane's 60 DWPD that effectively makes it capable of supporting infinity years of client workloads.
  • Yojimbo - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    This doesn't confirm that at all. The technology is just getting started. In fact, this suggests the exact opposite. If Micron wasn't interested in either 3D XPoint or the successor to it that they are developing then they wouldn't spend the money to buy this fab.
  • twotwotwo - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link

    Seems like a good thing for consumers that it won't be just one company with the first gen of this NVRAM tech, any necessary patents, etc. Not sure Micron's on even footing with Intel here (like, they haven't shipped any products, dunno how far they are along on designing a controller), and duopoly isn't quite like full competition, but seems better than Intel or Micron having it to themselves.

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