Smart meters could breathe life into flagging chip market
Even as the downturn dries up cleantech capital, smart-meter makers continue to do quite well. With the Obama administration placing emphasis — in the form of $4.5 billion — on smart-grid development, and major utilities like PG&E jumping on board, it looks like the smart-meter industry will hold strong through the next couple of years. This is especially good news for the makers of chips used in these meters.
New analysis out of Gartner, reported by… Continue Reading
Crocus snags $15.8M to develop magnetic memory chips
French semiconductor maker Crocus Technology has raised $15.8 million in second round financing, in addition to $4.1 million from OSEO, France’s public agency for funding innovation.
The company plans to use the round for continued development of its magnetic random access memory (MRAM) chips, which can store information using magnetic fields. These chips are less volatile, suck less power and are generally faster than the flash memory used in most computers and handheld electronics.
Crocus expects that… Continue Reading
Freescale spins out its MRAM chip business
I wish my memory could get this kind of upgrade. Today, a new kind of chip memory is going to get a boost with the launch of a new venture spin-out company. If it succeeds, we’ll be carrying around much more responsive, instantly available portable gadgets in the future.
MRAM has been in the research labs for a long time as a chip technology that has the combined advantages of both temporary and permanent memory. But… Continue Reading