Re: Intel wireless chip. As I understand it, Intel was trying to combine wireless and flash memory on a single chip, which, if it worked, might have given allowed them to compete with SanDisk, QUALCOMM, and Texas Instruments simultaneously. Chip design is very tricky. In addition to the patents, some of which can be circumvented, there are other design and manufacturing techniques that are not patented but that are kept secret in order that competitors will not have much opportunity to see how to make a particular product.
SanDisk has commented that its MLC designs are not easy to reproduce. Some competing manufacturers can't get the yield out the wafers that SNDK can get. I suspect this and other problems simply stumped Intel, which initially created the design for the MLC chip. Anyway, even if Intel were successful in designing a completely integrated chip, it often takes years of experience to make a chip work really well, that is, without glitches and with speed and reliability.
Art |
