@Pam - NOR pricing
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I do not know for a fact if Intel is using any 300mm lines for NOR but most likely they are NOT because the RoI would be poor. There is no pricing power in NOR business and unless demand/supply balance out, making money will be difficult in this business.
As some have alluded to on this thread, MirrorBit has had half a node advantage over comparable FG NOR (StrataFlash, etc.) even with just 200mm output for at least a few years now, and yet despite this cost advantage, SPSN has been losing money.
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You overlooked the major point. Just look a few years into
the past - there was Intel as THE big player, AMD and STM,
which "copied" Intel. There was a time, AMD lost money with
CPUs and earned much money with Flash. Its a while ago. What
did Intel thought at that time? Easy, because NOR at Intel
is "small" compared to the "rest" lets bring AMD into a
worst case mode with selling NOR flash under costs. Thats
what Intel did. Just keep in mind - Intel lost e.g. 100Mio.
per quarter at Flash and earned 2000Mio. on the CPU side,
AMD earned nothing in CPU or even lost money and now lost
money in Flash too. Its easy to see the result. Once you
keep AMD at low low earnings levels or even "red", they
could not invest -> the result is a clear manufactoring lead
at Intel -> cost lead etc. pp.
Its near impossible to REALLY prove this point, but its easy
to see this. NOR was a "good" industry untill Intel decided
to fight against AMD in the flash-segment, which was "easy"
for Intel. From this utterly Intel-move, the whole NOR
industry hasn't reached a healthy status. Thats it. You
always want to show, that some stuff is better and in NOR
you couldn't make money - the point is, thats clearly wrong.
And its still my thought at these times, that the Newco "IPO"
will change the landscape again, just because 2 BIG guys have
to earn money long-term. Its easy to spot the future when you
have this into a mind.
BUGGI |
