Micron Technology's earlier acquisition of NOR flash technology from Numonyx will allow the company to expand its presence in the burgeoning market for memory for cell phones, and better position the US player to compete with dominant supplier Samsung Electronics.
"With the addition of NOR flash, Micron has gained access to a broad portfolio of components required to compete in the memory market for mobile platforms," said senior analyst. "To vie with Korean industry heavyweight Samsung, Micron will need to offer complete memory solutions that combine multiple types of memory and serve the needs of the wireless segment."
Samsung was the top NAND supplier with 38.5% share of revenues in the first quarter of 2010, and was also the No. 3 seller of NOR flash with 14.7% share.
Numonyx in the first quarter was the world's top NOR flash memory supplier with 32.6% share of revenues. In 2009, more than 70% of Numonyx's revenues was derived from its mobile business.
With 9.1% share of market revenues, Micron was the No. 3 supplier of NAND flash memory in the first quarter, trailing No. 1 Samsung and No. 2 Toshiba.
"While Micron still has work to do to develop its product line, the combination of Numonyx's unique position as a top-tier mobile memory supplier, along with Micron's own NAND and mobile DRAM products, gives Micron the pieces that it needs to compete" ,said an analyst.
Global revenues from sales of mobile memory - that consists of NAND flash, NOR flash and mobile DRAM used in handsets - is expected to rise to US$10.2 billion in 2010, up 49.9% from US$6.8 billion in 2009. Revenues are expected to rise another 9.6% to US$11.2 billion in 2011.