Established in 2002 in Milpitas, CA, Grandis is applying the theories of spintronics to advanced computing to produce a revolutionary second generation MRAM platform. Spintronics examines the motions of electrons and the ways that spin can be exploited for various applications. When applied to the semiconductor industry, spintronics has the capability of drastically increasing the amount of memory that can be stored in increasingly smaller spaces. Grandis’ core technology is its non-volatile Spin-transer Torque Random Access Memory or STT-RAM, which it claims has a faster read/write speed than SRAM, same capacity and low cost as DRAM, and has virtually unlimited endurance. Additionally, the process by which STT-RAM is manufactured is simpler and cheaper than that of first generation MRAM. Furthermore, as the industry continues to push towards 45 nm standards, companies will be forced to adopt new manufacturing processes. Grandis’ innovation operates with high scalability beyond the 45 nm node and as such operates on extremely low power. STT-RAM is backed by more than 80 issued and pending patents worldwide, including 30 US patents. Grandis’ innovation is truly a breakthrough technology as it is derived from Grandis’ own cutting-edge research in spintronics. Since STT-RAM overcomes the limitations of other RAM designs, the technology has an array of possible applications including: automotive applications, consumer electronic applications, and commercial semiconductor applications. Moreover, according to OneSource, in 2006 the semiconductor industry was worth $45 billion in the US alone, up 4.6% from 2005. During the same time period, integrated circuits accounted for 90% of all US semiconductor sales. It seems evident that Grandis has a huge market potential in the near and long-term future. In addition, according to Grandis, STT-RAM “…has the potential to create new sectors in the semiconductor industry and enable entirely new products not yet envisaged.”

In March 2007 Grandis was awarded about $700,000 from the National Science Foundation for the development of its STT-RAM technology. More recently Grandis received about $15 million in venture funding to commercialize its product, demonstrating the commercial and technological value of STT-RAM.

Labels: Advanced Computing