A history of Micron: Our timeline

Micron Ships World’s First 232-Layer NAND, Extends Technology Leadership

Micron's industry-leading 232-layer 3D NAND provides the foundation for a new wave of end-to-end technologic innovation. With this industry first 232-layer advancement, Micron enables the best industry storage density, improved performance and industry-leading I/O speed. This helps unlock new opportunities for digitization, optimization and automation in client, mobile and data center markets.

Micron Marks 50,000 Patents Milestone

Micron Technology's leadership is founded on continual innovation in memory, storage, semiconductor technologies and beyond. The milestone of achieving our 50,000th patent is a reflection of the creativity of Micron's global team members over the decades and their dedication to drive innovation forward.

• Micron ships world’s most advanced DRAM technology with 1-Beta Node
• Micron invests up to $100 billion to build megafab in Clay, New York
• Micron invests $15 billion in new Idaho fab
• Micron ships world’s first 232-layer NAND
• Micron Ventures Fund II commits $200M for deep tech startups
• Micron marks 50,000 patents milestone

Launched GDDR6X, first memory to use PAM4 multi-level signaling

GDDR6X is the world’s fastest discrete graphics memory solution, which is the first to power system bandwidth up to 1 terabyte per second (TB/s). The multilevel signaling innovation in GDDR6X has shattered conventional bandwidth limits, clocking record-breaking speeds while accelerating performance on complex graphics workloads across next-generation gaming applications.

Shipped industry’s first 176-layer NAND flash

The world’s first 176-layer 3D NAND flash memory achieves unprecedented, industry-pioneering density and performance. Together, Micron’s new 176-layer technology and advanced architecture represent a radical breakthrough, enabling immense gains in application performance across a range of storage use cases spanning data center, intelligent edge and mobile devices.

Micron Ships Industry's First Quad-Level Cell NAND SSD

Micron began shipments of the industry’s first SSD built on revolutionary quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology. The Micron® 5210 ION SSD provides 33 percent more bit density than triple-level cell (TLC) NAND, addressing segments previously services with hard disk drives (HDDs).

Micron Leads Industry With First Monolithic 8Gb DDR3 SDRAM

This single component provided a significant density increase to 1 gigabyte on a single chip. This higher density enables cost-effective, high-capacity solutions optimized to support large-scale, data-intensive workloads.

Micron Delivers World’s Smallest 16nm NAND Flash Device

Micron’s 16nm process technology delivered 16GB of storage on a single die, the highest-density planar NAND flash memory ever developed. Using this process, a single 300mm wafer can create nearly 6TB of storage.

Micron Produces Industry’s First 2.5-Inch PCIe Enterprise SSD

This solution combined a high-performance PCI Express interface with a hot-swappable 2.5-inch form factor and custom Micron controller, creating new options for enterprise performance scalability and serviceability.

Micron Creates New Low-Power DRAM Category for Ultrabook™  Devices

DDR3L-RS memory established a new category of “reduced-power” DRAM solutions, enabling longer battery life for a new generation of high-performance, ultrathin devices like laptops, tablets, and Ultrabook systems.
*Ultrabook is a trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Micron Ships RealSSD™ C300, Industry’s Fastest Client SSD

At the time of launch, the C300 was the industry’s fastest SSD for notebook and desktop PCs. With support for the SATA III interface, this SSD delivered 6 Gb/s which significantly boosted throughput speeds for data transfers, application loads and boot times.

Micron and Intel First to Deliver Sub-40nm NAND Flash Memory

This multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash device was the industry’s first monolithic 32Gb NAND, which enabled high-density solid state storage in very small form factor devices, including digital cameras, personal music players and digital camcorders.

2004 Highlights

• Micron ships first 2-gigabit NAND flash product

Micron Develops 1.3-Megapixel CMOS Image Sensor

Micron’s entry into image sensors established the company as an innovator capable of making CMOS technology with image quality rivaling charge coupled device (CCD) sensors. Today, CMOS sensors are the standard in digital cameras of all types, from smartphones to high-end professional gear.

Micron Demonstrates Industry's First 1Gigabit DDR on 110nm Process

Micron’s 1Gb DDR was built on the most advanced process technology in the world (110nm), outpacing semiconductor giants Intel and AMD who were still on 130nm. This chip established Micron as the memory industry leader in both density and interface performance.

Micron Produces Industry’s First DDR DRAM

Micron’s demonstration of the Samurai double data rate (DDR) chipset proved that DDR memory could deliver performance equivalent to the competing Direct RDRAM solution, but at a much lower cost. Ultimately, DDR would become the undisputed industry-standard interface for high-performance DRAM.

Micron 16-Megabit DRAM Enables PCs With New Windows 3.1

A milestone in density, the 16-megabit DRAM replaced Micron's mainstay 4-megabit DRAM lineup. These higher capacity chips coincided with Microsoft’s release of Windows 3.1, which drove minimum PC RAM requirements to 1 megabyte.

Micron Introduces First Video RAM and Fast Static RAM Products

The introductions of 256K video RAM and fast static RAM broadened Micron’s product portfolio beyond traditional DRAM, enabling Micron to become a player in differentiated memory types.

Micron Unveils World’s Smallest 256K DRAM Chip

In addition to being introduced as the world’s smallest 256K DRAM die, this chip also represented an industry milestone in DRAM density. By using bigger and easier-to-read memory cells, the 256K DRAM was a springboard to future efficiency and profitability for the young memory startup.

Micron Ships its First 64K DRAM Product

Micron’s 64K DRAM was the first product manufactured at the company’s newly completed fabrication facility in Boise, Idaho. Micron sold its 64K DRAM into many of the first mass-produced personal computers, including the Commodore 64 home computer.

Micron Engineers Finalize 64K DRAM Design

While not the first company to make 64K DRAM, Micron’s engineers created a newer, smaller version that was lauded as the smallest 64K DRAM design in the world. This innovative design led to high-volume manufacturing of the company’s first 64K product in 1981.

Micron Technology Is Founded

Micron started as a four-person semiconductor design company in the basement of a Boise, Idaho dental office. Micron’s first contract was for the design of a 64K memory chip for Mostek Corporation.