Winbond Electronics enters automotive flash memory market

SAN JOSE, USA: Winbond Electronics Corp., a leading global supplier of specialty memory solutions for computer, consumer and communication applications, is bringing its popular SpiFlash Serial Flash memory technology to the rapidly expanding automotive-electronics market.

Winbond, which leads the Serial Flash market in unit sales with over 1.2 Billion devices shipped in 2011, will provide its TS16949-certified AEC-Q100-qualified Serial Flash memory devices – featuring densities from two megabits to 256 megabits – to global equipment makers in the automotive-electronics market. According to leading market research analysts Strategic Analytics, the automotive-electronics market will be growing at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the next five years.

Demand for DRAM and Serial Flash memory devices for automobiles is expected to increase dramatically over coming decades, as infotainment, “smart” dashboards and advanced driver assistant systems (ADAS) become more common – either as options or standard equipment. At the same time, makers of automotive electronics have been steadily switching from parallel Flash to Serial Flash memories, which will play a critical role in these systems. Additionally, the Serial Flash memory market itself has been growing significantly, from 3.1 billion units in 2010 to an anticipated 5.6 billion units in 2016, according to Web-Feet Research.

“The market as a whole is rapidly shifting to Serial Flash,” said Robin Jigour, VP of Flash memory marketing at Winbond. “Winbond’s market leadership in Serial Flash and unmatched manufacturing capabilities place the company in an ideal position to capitalize not just on the growing demand for such memory devices but also on this significant transition to Serial Flash underway in the automobile industry.”

“The global automotive semiconductor market is growing at 10 percent CAGR, thanks to a combination of increased electronics penetration per vehicle, the growing sophistication of system control, and emerging market production,” said Chris Webber, VP, Global Automotive Practice, Strategic Analytics. “In many embedded automotive electronics applications Flash memory demand is increasing due to higher processor performance plus code and data expansion. This is creating new opportunities for memory vendors such as Winbond to apply Flash memory expertise and fabrication capabilities to this fast-growing market.”

Worldwide makers of automotive electronics are presently developing and providing car manufacturers with a wide array of components that demand a range of densities, various temperature grades, high quality and longevity -- all qualities that Winbond’s new Automotive Serial Flash products provide. Automotive systems that are taking advantage of Serial Flash memories include: audio, telematics, navigation/GPS, media centers, digital displays, cameras, data recorder, and safety-monitoring devices.

Winbond, an ISO/TS16949-certified semiconductor manufacturer with state-of-the-art fabrication facilities and which already provides specialty DRAM to the automotive industry, is addressing this fast-growing market’s Serial Flash memory needs with a series of industrial- and automotive-grade SpiFlash devices. Winbond’s 90-nanometer (nm) AEC-Q100 qualified Automotive Grade 2 (-40°C~105°C) and Automotive Grade 3 (-40°C~+85°C) SpiFlash memories are available now in densities up to 128Mb.

Industrial Grade Plus (-40°C~+105°C) is also available for less stringent automotive applications. A 58nm family of SpiFlash starting with densities up to 256Mb will be introduced later in 2012, as will Winbond’s 90nm parallel NOR Flash memories, also up to 256Mb.