Freescale spins out MRAM biz

Freescale's 50-member MRAM team, along with the company's related IP and products, will become EverSpin Technologies, a new company focused on bringing MRAM to market both as an embedded and standalone memory.

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- Electronic News, 6/9/2008

Freescale Semiconductor has spun out its MRAM (magnetoresistive random access memory) business into an independent company dubbed EverSpin Technologies. 

The move, according to Freescale CTO Lisa Su (pictured left), is intended to accelerate the adoption of MRAM in both the embedded memory space, where much of Freescale’s portfolio plays, and the standalone memory space.

“Typically spinouts are for things that a company doesn’t feel are core to business. We actually feel that MRAM could have huge potential within the core of Freescale’s business in the embedded space,” Su told Electronic News noting the company’s work in embedded MCUs and MPUs.

“The spinout is to allow the technology to get wider adoption beyond Freescale’s products in the marketplace, but we will still be a very strong supporter and user of the technology,” she continued. “We look at this [spin off] as the best way to commercialize the technology.”

MRAM uses magnetic materials combined with conventional silicon circuitry to deliver the speed of SRAM with the non-volatility of flash memory in a single device. In addition to Freescale, Hynix, NEC, and Toshiba are among a handful of companies pursuing MRAM as an alternative to traditional DRAM and flash in IC design. Freescale, however, claims to be the only volume supplier of the memory and recently saw its MRAM used in a Japanese satellite because of its reportedly high temperature and high reliability capabilities.

In creating EverSpin, Freescale will transfer its MRAM technology, related intellectual property, manufacturing assets, and products to EverSpin and will retain an equity position in the new venture. Su would not detail Freescale’s equity position in EverSpin only to say that the company’s stake would be “significant.”

Chandler, Ariz-based EverSpin will continue to supply products to Freescale’s existing standalone MRAM customers and, in addition, Su explained that Freescale will continue to develop embedded products based on EverSpin’s MRAM and that the two companies will work “closely” together.

“EverSpin will have the MRAM manufacturing capability and will operate out of Freescale’s fabs in Phoenix. Freescale will continue to do a lot of the CMOS processing associated with the MRAM and then EverSpin will do the MRAM specific portion,” she said.

Freescale will also be transferring its approximately 50 member MRAM team to EverSpin, including 20-plus year Freescale veteran Saied Tehrani, who is now COO of EverSpin.

“We would like to really take advantage of this technology, not only in the embedded space, but also in the standalone space and to really expand on that area. We will be growing and expanding our portfolio in that marketplace with applications in consumer, industrial, and in the automotive area,” said Tehrani (pictured right).

Tehrani further said EverSpin is immediately looking to grow its design and sales and marketing teams. “We will start the first day looking for people,” he said.

Austin-based Freescale, once a spinout of Motorola itself, created EverSpin in cooperation with venture capital firms New Venture Partners, Sigma Partners, Lux Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Epic Ventures.