eMMC/ eMCP - Samsung lose, Hynix gain $1.7Bil

The market of embedded flash controller grew from $6 to 9.5 Billion between 2012 to 2013 (see the article below). 

The article does not elaborate on the large increase of market share by Hynix and Toshiba. Hynix gain market share from 6.3% to 22.5% while Toshiba from 18.7% to 22.5%.

2013 Rank	Company	2012 Share	2013 Share
1	Samsung	56.6%	35.6%
2	Toshiba	18.7%	22.5%
3	SK Hynix	6.3%	22.5%
4	SanDisk	15.5%	14.0%

Wondering what is the cause for Hynix $1.68 Billion growth? It will be interesting to compare to the market share of the overall Flash NAND memory market shares. Is Apple behind Hynix growth?

Interesting to see today news that Quarterly Profits of Samsung Electronics Forecast to Drop

“IT & Mobile Division, which accounted for over 60 percent of the electronics giant’s sales and business profits last year. The division’s smartphone and tablet PC shipments are estimated to have declined significantly in the current quarter. “According to our forecast, smartphone and tablet PC shipments have fallen at least 10 percent and approximately 20 percent from the preceding quarter, respectively,” said research analyst Song Myung-sup at HI Investment & Securities”

Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

Top Mobile Memory Vendors

Janine Love

6/16/2014 05:15 PM EDT 

Recently, Gartner released a report, "Market Share Analysis: eMMC and eMCP Vendors by Revenue, Worldwide, 2013." The top ranked vendor for eMMC and eMCP market was Samsung Electronics, with 35.6% of worldwide revenue (around $3.317 billion). The top four vendors, Samsung, Toshiba, SK Hynix, and SanDisk, claimed 95.4% revenue share in 2013, up from 90% the previous year. Sales of eMCPs saw higher growth in 2013 than eMMCs. In the report, Gartner attributes this to the increased support of eMCPs by application vendors for low-cost smartphones.

Table: Vendor revenue for eMMCs and eMCPs, worldwide, 2012-2013 (millions of dollars).

Officially known as JESD84-B50: Embedded MultiMediaCard (e.MMC), Electrical Standard (5.0), eMMC memory is a JEDEC standard that is currently in version 5.0. As JEDEC defines it, eMMC is an embedded non-volatile memory system that includes flash memory as well as a flash memory controller. The aim of the standard is to simplify the application interface design and free up the host processor from some of the low-level flash memory management tasks. About two years ago, we saw the introduction of embedded multi-chip package (eMCP) memory, which is eMMC memory with an additional DRAM module, developed for low-cost smartphones in an effort to speed time to market.

Figure: Position of different mobile memory systems in relation to cost and speed.
(Source: Gartner)

Gartner's principal analyst, Brady Wang, compiled the report. He found it surprising that sales of eMCPs saw higher growth in 2013. He also noted that TLC (also known as 3-bits-per-cell) NAND solutions for both eMMC and eMCP will see high adoption in 2014, both in smartphones and tablets. This will address the market demands for high levels of storage space while lowering costs.

eMMC and eMCP memory includes controllers. Some vendors are using their in-house controllers to gain a competitive advantage. 

Wang says: Some NAND flash vendors, including SNKD, Toshiba and Samsung, still use in-house controllers. Since the geometry of NAND flash moves fast and also the configurations of NAND flash chips between vendors are slightly different, it's important to have a close relationship between controller vendors and chip vendors. That's one advantage of in-house controllers. The other advantage is the cost.

Despite the success stories, challenges remain for mobile memory, and Wang identifies speed and performance as the top ones, as mobile memory is challenged to meet the demands of high-performance processors. As a result, he expects universal flash storage (UFS) memory to see its initial adoption in the second half of 2014, but only in very high-end, flagship products to start.

The advantages of UFS memory (as compared to eMMC/eMCP memory) are better performance, higher capacity, better bandwidth, better IOPS, and optimized performance for multithreaded applications, according to Wang. UFS uses a serial interface (eMMC is a parallel interface) and asynchronous I/O (eMMC is synchronous I/O), enabling it to efficiently move data between the host processor and mass storage.

Wang notes that currently the cost and power consumption of UFS is higher than eMMC, so this will constrain its adoption. However, with the introduction of multi-core architectures that require high-performance memory, UFS is well positioned. “Although the power consumption of UFS is higher than eMMC, its energy efficiency is better,” says Wang. He expects to see UFS in high-end smartphones, tablets, and ultrabooks. eMMC will still be the best choice for mid-to-low cost mobile applications. Wang also points to SATA SSDs as competition for UFS in ultrabook applications. Finally, he notes that UFS is not backward compatible with eMMC, which will slow its adoption in applications where eMMC is already used.

Flash NAND, NOR, eMMC Market Growth

NAND market continues to grow while NOR continue to shrink (see article below). 

The reason for NAND dominance were explained on my May 2007 article on Long Term Trends in the NOR and NAND Markets .

Highlights from review of the IHS report in the article below:

"NAND product known as embedded multimedia card (eMMC) enjoyed record shipments in 2013 of more than 1 billion units, up a hefty 49 percent from 687 million in 2012. NAND revenue rose 28 percent to US$25.8 billion.

In comparison, NOR shipments last year fell 10 percent to 606 million units, with revenue down 15 percent to approximately US$3.0 billion....

The evolution of eMMC, in particular, has been rapid, with nearly annual enhancements to performance. As an economical choice for greater flash-memory densities, eMMC has become viable in high-end markets like smartphones and tablets, in which high-density storage capacity is required along with low-power consumption and a small footprint.

Embedded NAND’s utility has also now carried over from smartphones in its early use, to tablets. Last year, eMMC was the standard memory configuration for a vast majority of tablets, the only exception being the Surface Pro from Microsoft, which employs a SATA-interface solid-state drive.

The billion-unit shipment level of eMMC last year is a milestone, Yang remarked, and the product shows the way forward for managed NAND solutions by its deft handling of error correction and enhanced reliability at the solution level."

Ron

Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

NAND eMMC hits a record year, while NOR Flash shrinks further

25 February, 2014 Posted by Kevin Gomez

Source: IHS Technology, February 2014

• 
  

The global memory market presented a vivid picture of contrast last year given the wildly divergent fortunes of its two main segments, with spritely NAND offset by the sobering continued downturn of beleaguered NOR flash, according to a new report from IHS Technology.

On the one hand, the NAND product known as embedded multimedia card (eMMC) enjoyed record shipments in 2013 of more than 1 billion units, up a hefty 49 percent from 687 million in 2012. NAND revenue rose 28 percent to US$25.8 billion.

In comparison, NOR shipments last year fell 10 percent to 606 million units, with revenue down 15 percent to approximately US$3.0 billion.

The overall flash market in 2013 was worth US$28.8 billion, up from US$23.7 billion a year earlier, as shown in the attached figure.

“The key driver to NAND lies in its proliferating use for mobile consumer electronics, exemplified by the memory’s increasingly widespread application in devices like smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs,” said Michael Yang, senior principal analyst for memory & storage at IHS.

“Meanwhile, NOR’s once-broad portfolio of applications in low-end mobile handsets and desktop PCs has mostly matured, and its next killer market has yet to manifest.”

These findings are contained in the report, “Mobile & Embedded Memory Tracker – Q4 2013,” from the Semiconductors & Components service of IHS.

NAND memory, in the form of either raw NAND or eMMC, is now the standard memory used for most smartphones. The only exception is Apple’s iPhone, which uses its own managed NAND memory product.

The evolution of eMMC, in particular, has been rapid, with nearly annual enhancements to performance. As an economical choice for greater flash-memory densities, eMMC has become viable in high-end markets like smartphones and tablets, in which high-density storage capacity is required along with low-power consumption and a small footprint.

Embedded NAND’s utility has also now carried over from smartphones in its early use, to tablets. Last year, eMMC was the standard memory configuration for a vast majority of tablets, the only exception being the Surface Pro from Microsoft, which employs a SATA-interface solid-state drive.

The billion-unit shipment level of eMMC last year is a milestone, Yang remarked, and the product shows the way forward for managed NAND solutions by its deft handling of error correction and enhanced reliability at the solution level.

The rise of eMMC has also bred a new cast of suppliers. While Samsung remains dominant, players like SK Hynix, SanDisk and Toshiba are fiercely competitive and poised to gain ground.

The eMMC space, however, could see challenges this year. With growth slowing in the smartphone and tablet markets, there could be a possible oversupply of the memory type, in the process also leading to a possible large drop in eMMC average selling prices.

The steady decline of the NOR flash market began in 2007 and hasn’t stopped since. At its peak, the NOR market exceeded US$9 billion a year and last hit US$8 billion back in 2006—a far cry from its current numbers.

The NOR picture is also complicated by the contrasting outlook for its two sub-segments.

Parallel NOR, long used in computers for boot-code execution or serving as a storage medium for entry-level cellphones, will see its run in wireless devices come to an end sometime next year.

Parallel NOR will continue to be used in high-level industrial, medical, networking and military applications, but its exit from wireless will be a blow.

Meanwhile, serial peripheral interface (SPI) NOR, rival to parallel NOR, will go on to wider use in both wireless and consumer devices.

SPI NOR’s relative simplicity in design and low manufacturing cost will prove appealing, and the memory will be especially attractive to manufacturers of low-cost cellphones that need to keep a lid on expenses.

The shift from parallel to SPI NOR has also impacted their respective suppliers. Micron Technology and Spansion, the foremost producers of parallel NOR, now also have SPI offerings.

However, both companies have been at pains to differentiate their SPI product from the rest of the pack, in order to stave off the aggressive penetration of other SPI NOR suppliers such as Macronix, Winbond Electronics and GigaDevice.

The ongoing growth of SPI NOR will help offset a shrinking parallel NOR market, but the industry would be healthier if consolidation took place and reduced the number of players to four, IHS believes.

There are five suppliers at present that command 75 percent of the market, along with a spattering of smaller producers that make up the rest of the market.

Even so, there are no quick fixes, with the largest NOR applications disappearing or on their way out, and new deployments like automotive NOR still facing an uphill climb.

Xbox, PlayStation 4 $332 Manufacturing Cost

TechInsights Teardown (see below) shows that both vendors used many similar parts to optimize their investment in the next generation of gaming consoles.

Based on iFixit tear down I believe that the tear down has a minor error that would add about $3 to Xbox cost of manufacturing due to the 8GB EMMC NAND flash being used instead of:  

"Xbox One also has 4GB eMMC NAND flash, making the non-volatile category US$3 higher for Xbox One"

Based on iFixit disassembles the Xbox One and finds NAND

"One interesting component is an 8GB chunk of eMMC NAND flash memory, the purpose of which Microsoft discussed last month with Eurogamer. In the words of Microsoft Technical Fellow Andrew Goossen:

We use it as a cache system-side to improve system response and again not disturb system performance on the titles running underneath. So what it does is that it makes our boot times faster when you're not coming out of the sleep mode—if you're doing the cold boot. It caches the operating system on there. It also caches system data on there while you're actually running the titles and when you have the snap applications running concurrently. It's so that we're not going and hitting the hard disk at the same time that the title is. All the game data is on the HDD. We wanted to be moving that head around and not worrying about the system coming in and monkeying with the head at an inopportune time.”

 Ron

Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.

Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

Teardown.com compares PlayStation 4 vs. Xbox One

25 November, 2013 TechInsights

 

TechInsights has performed a Quick Turn Teardown of the Sony PlayStation 4 and the Microsoft Xbox One.

TechInsights Teardown shows that both vendors used many similar parts to optimise their investment in the next generation of gaming consoles.

While AMD came out as a big winner in the APU (integrated CPU and GPU) there are choice design differences around the both the processor design and the use of memory in each device.

The TechInsights bill of materials (BOM) for the Microsoft Xbox One amounts to US$331.00. Based on this – and when the estimated costs for the peripherals are included – TechInsights believes Microsoft will have a gross profit of approximately US$100.00 per console sold. This is far better than the US$43.00 Sony will make per complete unit.

Says Al Cowsky, Costing Director, TechInsights: “At the console level, the Xbox One is US$10 less expensive than the PS4. This is primarily due to a US$23 memory premium on the PS4, but it is offset by an US$11 cost premium on the Xbox One processor.

"The Xbox One also has 4GB eMMC NAND flash, making the non-volatile category US$3 higher for Xbox One, while the housings/mechanicals of the Xbox One add another US$4 premium over the PS4.

"The Xbox One also comes with a Kinect vision system in-box with an estimated cost of US$39. This is more than made up for by the US$100 list price premium. Likewise, PS4 has an optional vision system accessory available for a list price of US$60 (unit not costed at this time)”

ISSCC 2013: Memory, High-performance Digital, and Wireless trends

Solid State Technology published three articles summarizing ISSCC 2013  technology trends. They "see progressive scaling in embedded SRAM, DRAM, and floating-gate based Flash... However, due to the major scaling challenges...continued increase in the use of smart algorithms and error-correction techniques...we see logic processes adopting FinFET devices.

"The relentless march of process technology brings more integration and performance. IBM’s System z processor leads the charge at ISSCC 2013 clocking in at 5.7GHz and with 2.75B transistors."

"Data rates for modern wireless standards are increasing rapidly and this is evident from the trend of cellular standards.The data rate has increased 100X over the last decade and another 10X is projected in the next five years"


Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

Samsung Advances Memory Storage eMMC to 1x-nm Process

Samsung unveiled a 64 gigabytes (GB) embedded multimedia card(eMMC) based on 10 nanometer (nm)process technology (see below). Earlier in August Samsung started "volume production of 128-gigabyte (GB) embedded NAND for next-generation smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, the company said Wednesday (Sept. 19). Samsung began production of the 128-GB embedded multimedia card (eMMC) Pro Class 1500 NAND in late August"




While the announcement of 10nm flash NAND is an important step, this is just an initial step in ramping up the process in the 1xx nm process. We should keep in mind that definition of 10nm class process is a bit loose. It probably just means that it uses a process in the 1x-nanometer class
Ron Maltiel


http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/





Additional information

Samsung Advances Memory Storage For Slim Smartphones & Tablets