Since 2000
In 2000, Gurtej Singh Sandhu and Trung T. Doan at Micron initiated the development of atomic layer deposition high-k films for DRAM memory devices. This helped drive cost-effective implementation of semiconductor memory, starting with 90 nm node DRAM.[11][12] Pitch double-patterning was also pioneered by Gurtej Singh Sandhu at Micron during the 2000s, leading to the development of 30-nm class NAND flash memory, and it has since been widely adopted by NAND flash and RAM manufacturers worldwide.[11][13]
In 2002, Micron spun off its personal computer business as MPC Corporation and put it up for sale.[14][15] The company found the business difficult as the number 12 American computer maker with only 1.3 percent of the market.[16]
Micron and Intel created a joint venture in 2005, based in IM Flash Technologies in Lehi, Utah.[17] The two companies formed another joint venture in 2011, IM Flash Singapore, in Singapore.[18] In 2012 Micron became sole owner of this second joint venture.[19] In 2006 Micron acquired Lexar, an American manufacturer of digital media products.[20]
The company changed leadership again in June 2007 with COO Mark Durcan becoming president.[21] In 2008, Micron converted the Avezzano chip fab, formerly a Texas Instruments DRAM fab, into a production facility for CMOS image sensors sold by Aptina Imaging.[22]
In 2008, Micron spun off Aptina Imaging, which was acquired by ON Semiconductor in 2014. Micron retained a stake in the spinoff.[23] However, the core company suffered setbacks and had to layoff 15 percent of its workforce in October 2008,[24][25] during which period the company also announced the purchase of Qimonda's 35.6 percent stake in Inotera Memories for $400 million.[26] The trend of layoffs and acquisitions continued in 2009 with the termination of an additional 2,000 employees,[27][28] and the acquisition of the FLCOS microdisplay company Displaytech.[29]
On February 3, 2012, CEO Appleton died in a plane crash shortly after takeoff from the Boise Airport. He was the pilot and sole occupant of the Lancair IV aircraft.[31][32][33] Mark Durcan replaced Appleton as the CEO shortly thereafter,[34] eliminating his former title of president.[35]
In 2013, the Avezzano chip fab was sold to LFoundry.[22] In the 2012 to 2014 period, Micron again went through an acquisition-layoff cycle, becoming the majority shareholder of Inotera Memories, purchasing Elpida Memory[36] for $2 billion and the remaining shares in Rexchip, a PC memory chip manufacturing venture between Powerchip and Elpida Memory for $334 million,[37][38] while announcing plans to lay off approximately 3,000 workers.[39][40] Through the Elpida acquisition, Micron became a major supplier to Apple Inc. for the iPhone and iPad.[36]
In April 2017, Micron announced Sanjay Mehrotra as the new president and CEO to replace Mark Durcan.[42][43] In June 2017 Micron announced it was discontinuing the Lexar retail removable media storage business and putting some or all of it up for sale.[44] In August of that year the Lexar brand was acquired by Longsys, a flash memory company based in Shenzhen, China.[45]
In May 2018, Micron Technology and Intel launched QLC NAND memory to increase storage density.[46] The company ranked 150th on the Fortune 500 list of largest United States corporations by revenue.[47]
In February 2019, the first microSD card with a storage capacity of 1 terabyte (TB) was announced by Micron.[48] As of March 2020 3.84TB Micron 5210 Ion is the cheapest large-capacity SSD in the world.[49] In September 2020 the company introduced the world's fastest discrete graphics memory solution. Working with computing technology leader Nvidia, Micron debuted GDDR6X in the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics processing units (GPUs).[50] In November 2020, the company unveiled a new 176-layer 3D NAND module. It offers improved read and write latency and is slated to be used in the production of a new generation of solid-state drives.[51]
On October 22, 2021, Micron closed the sale of IM Flash's Lehi, Utah fab to Texas Instruments for a sale price of US$900 million.[52] In February 2022, Micron announced that it would discontinue its Ballistix gaming brand.[53] With the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, Micron announced its pledge to invest billions in new manufacturing within the United States.[54] In September 2022, Micron announced it would invest $15 billion in a new facility in Boise, Idaho.[55] In October 2022, Micron announced a $100 billion expansion in Clay, New York.[56][57]
Micron Technology owed Netlist, Inc. $445 million in damages for infringing Netlist's patents related to memory-module technology for high-performance computing.[58][59] The jury found that Micron's semiconductor-memory products violated two of Netlist's patents willfully, potentially allowing the judge to triple the damages. Netlist had sued Micron in 2022, accusing three of its memory-module lines of patent infringement, which Micron denied, also arguing the patents' invalidity. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidated one patent in April 2024.[60]
