Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both use the same cell design, consisting of floating gate MOSFETs. They differ at the circuit level depending on whether the state of the bit line or word lines is pulled high or low: in NAND flash, the relationship between the bit line and the word lines resembles a NAND gate; in NOR flash, it resembles a NOR gate.
Atmel Corporation was a creator and manufacturer of semiconductors before being subsumed by Microchip Technology in 2016. Atmel was founded in 1984. The company focused on embedded systems built around microcontrollers. Its products included microcontrollers radio-frequency (RF) devices including Wi-Fi, EEPROM, and flash memory devices, symmetric and asymmetric security chips, touch sensors and controllers, and application-specific products. Atmel supplies its devices as standard products, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or application-specific standard product (ASSPs) depending on the requirements of its customers.
Cypress Semiconductor was an American semiconductor design and manufacturing company. It offered NOR flash memories, F-RAM and SRAM Traveo microcontrollers, PSoC programmable system-on-chip solutions, analog and PMIC Power Management ICs, CapSense capacitive touch-sensing controllers, Wireless BLE Bluetooth Low-Energy and USB connectivity solutions.
Plextor is a Taiwanese consumer electronics brand, best known for solid-state drives and optical disc drives.
Silicon Image is a provider of semiconductors for the mobile, consumer electronics and personal computers (PCs). It also manufactures wireless and wired connectivity products used for high-definition content. The company’s semiconductor and IP products are deployed by the electronics manufacturers in devices such as smartphones, tablets, digital televisions (DTVs), other consumer electronics, as well as desktop and notebook PCs. Silicon Image, in cooperation with other companies, has driven the creation of some global industry standards such as DVI, HDMI, MHL, and WirelessHD.
Microchip Technology Inc. is a publicly listed American corporation that manufactures microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog, and Flash-IP integrated circuits. Its products include microcontrollers, Serial EEPROM devices, Serial SRAM devices, embedded security devices, radio frequency (RF) devices, thermal, power and battery management analog devices, as well as linear, interface and wireless products.
OCZ was a brand of Toshiba that was used for some of its solid-state drives (SSDs) before they were rebranded with Toshiba. OCZ Storage Solutions was a manufacturer of SSDs based in San Jose, California, USA and was the new company formed after the sale of OCZ Technology Group's SSD assets to Toshiba Corporation. Since entering the memory market as OCZ Technology in 2002, the company has targeted its products primarily at the computer hardware enthusiast market, producing performance DDR RAM, video cards, USB drives, power supplies, and various cooling products. SSD devices with the OCZ brand that are using SATA III, PCI Express, Serial attached SCSI and USB 3.0 interfaces, for both client and enterprise applications are currently being produced. OCZ Storage Solutions was dissolved on April 1, 2016 and absorbed into Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc, which later then became Kioxia.
M-Systems Ltd., was a Nasdaq-listed Israeli producer of flash memory storage products founded in 1989 by Dov Moran and Aryeh Mergi, based in Kfar Saba, Israel. They were best known for developing and patenting the first flash drive, marketed in 1995 as DiskOnChip, and the first USB flash drive, marketed in 2000 as DiskOnKey. They also created the patented True Flash Filing System (TrueFFS) which presented the flash memory as a disk drive to the computer. After 17 years of business, they were acquired by their prior competitor, SanDisk, in 2006. The DiskOnChip (DOC) was developed at the R&D Center established by M-Systems called EUROM. Rick Iorillo, Rony Levy and David Deitcher were the individuals that worked on the development and marketing of the first 2 MB DOC. This product went on to receive the Most Innovative Award from EDN in 1995 and later went on to become the Flash Drive and DiskOnKey.
Phison Electronics Corporation is a Taiwanese public electronics company that primarily designs, manufactures and sells controllers for NAND flash memory chips. These are integrated into flash-based products such as USB flash drives, memory cards, and solid-state drives (SSDs).
JMicron Technology Corporation is a Taiwan based fabless technology design house based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. As a manufacturer of integrated circuits, they produce controller chips for bridge devices.
ASIX Electronics Corp. is a fabless semiconductor supplier with a focus on networking, communication, and connectivity applications. ASIX Electronics specializes in Ethernet-centric silicon products such as non-PCI Ethernet controller, USB 2.0 to LAN controller, and network SoC for embedded networking applications.
Microsemi Corporation was an Aliso Viejo, California-based provider of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets.
MaxLinear is an American hardware company. Founded in 2003, it provides highly integrated radio-frequency (RF) analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products for broadband communications applications. It is a New York Stock Exchange-traded company.
LSI Logic Corporation, an American company founded in Santa Clara, California, was a pioneer in the ASIC and EDA industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in data centers, mobile networks and client computing.
Greenliant Systems is an American manufacturer of NAND flash memory-based solid state storage and controller semiconductors for embedded systems and datacenter products. Founded by Bing Yeh in 2010, Greenliant is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
Integrated Device Technology, Inc., is an subsidiary of Renesas Electronics headquartered in San Jose, California, that designs, manufactures, and markets low-power, high-performance mixed-signal semiconductor products for the advanced communications, computing, and consumer industries. The company markets its products primarily to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Founded in 1980, the company began as a provider of complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) for the communications business segment and computing business segments. The company focuses on three major areas: communications infrastructure, high-performance computing, and advanced power management.
ATP Electronics was a manufacturer of NAND based storage DRAM modules founded in Silicon Valley in 1991, headquarter was later moved to Taipei, Taiwan. ATP’s product line consist of Industrial grade products, such as SSD, SD / microSD memory cards, along with DRAM products that are used in business industries across Networking, Enterprise Mobility, Automotive industry, Military, IPC/Embedded Systems, Health care, Gaming and The Internet of Things (IoT). Intel's CMTL, one of the largest third party testing lab for Intel server platforms, only recommended two memory modules companies to purchase motherboards in Taiwan, one noted to be ATP Electronics.
Exar Corporation is an American semiconductor manufacturer which was acquired by MaxLinear in May 2017 and maintained as a wholly owned subsidiary. It was established in 1971 as a subsidiary of the Japanese firm Rohm.
Andes Technology Corporation is a Taiwanese supplier of 32/64-bit embedded CPU cores and a founding Premier member of RISC-V International. It focuses on the embedded market and delivers CPU cores with integrated development environment and associated software and hardware for SoC development. Andes is ranked the fifth IP company in the world. By the end of 2022, the cumulative volume of Andes-Embedded SoCs has surpassed 12 billion.
