SK hynix to Acquire Link_A_Media Devices
Start-up in HDD and SSD controllers
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on June 21, 2012 at 2:53 pmSK hynix Inc., Korea, semiconductor supplier offering DRAM, NAND flash memory chips and CMOS image sensors entered into an agreement to acquire California-based storage solution company Link_A_Media Devices Corporation (LAMD), Santa Clara, CA.
LAMD, founded in 2004, develops semiconductor SoC solutions for the data storage market. These controllers interface with processors to increase the speed and reliability of flash memory.
Upon completion of the acquisition, LAMD will join SK hynix as a business unit focused on customized NAND based solutions.
As various mobile applications such as smartphones and tablet PCs are being adopted and cloud computing grows in popularity, the NAND flash market has been evolving from raw NAND memory solutions for USB and memory cards to value-added products equipped with controllers. The role of the NAND controller in premium products such as e-MMC and SSDs has become important to meet the high memory densities and improved interface speeds required by end users.
"We expect our NAND flash competitiveness will be further strengthened by the acquisition of LAMD which has extensive expertise in controller technology and excellent engineering resources. SK hynix will leverage this acquisition and continuously develop value-added NAND solutions and respond to our customers’ needs," said Oh Chul Kwon, president and CEO of SK hynix.
"We are excited to become a part of the SK hynix family. This will enable us to bring our advanced controller solutions to a wide range of data storage products to meet the rapidly increasing demands of the worldwide business and consumer markets," said Dr. Hemant Thapar, founder and CEO of LAMD.
Comments
1/ Comment from Jim Handy,
Objective Analysis, Semiconductor Market Research
On June 20 SK Hynix announced an agreement to acquire privately-held
Link_A_Media Devices (LAMD) of California, a supplier of SoC chips for
the data storage market. Upon completion of the acquisition, LAMD will
join SK Hynix as a business unit focused on customized NAND based
solutions.
The press release states that LAMD's SoC controllers: "interface with processors to significantly increase the speed and reliability of flash memory."
Fourth SSD Controller Company to be Acquired
This is the fourth SSD controller company to be acquired recently:
- In March of last year OCZ acquired Indilinx
- LSI acquired SandForce in October
- December brought Apple's acquisition of Anobit
- Now SK Hynix has acquired Link_A_Media
Time will tell us how this acquisition spree will play out.
What About the Company's Main Businesses?
To date LAMD has shipped over 10 million read channel chips to the HDD business and holds over 100 related patents. None of that has been mentioned in the SK Hynix release, leading us to wonder if this was an oversight, or if LAMD is suddenly exiting the read channel chip business. This might lead to some difficulties for Seagate Technology, who we understand is LAMD's largest customer.
Although Hynix' intent is clearly stated - to acquire an SSD controller company - we would anticipate that LAMD will continue to produce read channel chips and that Seagate will not be left without one of its key suppliers. At this early time we have not received replies from any of the companies involved.
2/ Our additional comment
Among other acquisitions of SSD controller company, you can add:
- SanDisk buying Pliant Technology in 2011
- EMC acquiring XtremIO this year
It is mainly involved in SoC solution integrating the R/W channel, disk controller functions, microprocessor and memories, and servo processing for HDDs, and most recently in 6Gb SATA SSD controllers, here Corsair being one of its most recent customers.
Micron and Seagate are also among its initial investors, others ones being VCs.
Read also:
Start-Up's Profile: Link_A_Media Devices
In SoCs for HDDs and SSDs
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