Non-Volatile Memory Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

Non-Volatile Memory Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The Non-Volatile Memory market is expected to register a CAGR of 10.26% during the forecast period (2022 - 2027). The electronics device sector is anticipated to be impacted significantly by the COVID-19 outbreak, as China is one of the major suppliers of raw materials and finished products. The industry was facing a reduction in production, disruption in the supply chain, and price fluctuations. Further, the sales of prominent electronic companies are expected to be affected soon. This is expected to hamper the market’s growth in the short run slightly.

Key Highlights

• In the last decade, the growth of the portable systems market attracted the interest of the semiconductor industry in non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies for mass storage applications. The rise in demand for greater efficiency, faster memory access, and low-power consumption are significant factors driving the NVM market growth.
• The adoption of flash memories in consumer electronics due to its low price and power consumption is significant for the market’s growth. NVM is used in smartphones and wearable devices to enable more storage and faster memory access.
• In the flourishing consumer electronics industry, users expect their devices to continually become more powerful, provide new functionality with incredible speed, and store more movies, pictures, and music. While flash enabled substantial innovation during the past couple of decades, a new generation of memory is required as flash hits technology roadblocks, preventing it from scaling much further.
• The increasing research activities in this space are driving the market’s growth. For instance, in March 2021, Infineon Technologies LLC announced the launch of second-generation non-volatile Static RAMs that are qualified for QML-Q and high-reliability industrial specifications to mainly support non-volatile code storage in harsh environments, including aerospace and industrial applications.
• According to Lancaster University, in 2021, the development of UltraRAM is almost ready for mass production in the United Kingdom. UltraRam is designed using compound semiconductors, usually for lasers, LEDs, and infrared sensors. In addition, UltraRam combines technologies with energy efficiency, speed, the endurance of working memory, such as DRAM, and the non-volatility of a data storage memory, like a flash. Therefore, UltraRam can be used in computers, desktops, PCs, and smartphones.
• Further, in early 2021, Samsung announced the improvement of the MTJ function of its MRAM along with advancing its 14 nm process to support its flash-type embedded MRAM that is being designed to increase the write speed and density. In addition, the company targets the IC emerging NVM’s application in wearables, microcontrollers, and IoT devices.

Key Market TrendsFlash Memory is Expected to Hold Significant Market Share

• Growing demand and penetration of consumer electronics led to flash memory applications in devices. This memory type finds applications in laptops, GPS, electronic musical instruments, digital cameras, cell phones, and many others. Additionally, it is extensively adopted by data center solution vendors. With exponential growth in the adoption of cloud solutions, the demand for data centers is also surging.
• Further, with increasing propensity toward AI/ML applications and IoT devices that require high low latency and high throughput cloud storage, flash storage and enterprise data centers are optimized to train deep neural networks.
• For these solutions, flash memory is preferred. The growing number and size of data centers are expected to augment demand further. For instance, according to Cisco Systems, by Q4 2021, the number of hyperscale data centers worldwide will be around 628, compared to 338 in 2016, 1.9-fold growth or near doubling during the forecast period.
• The NAND flash memory market is expected to set a record in 2021 as flash memory manufacturers, including Samsung, Kioxia, Micron, and SK Hynix, witness a massive surge in demand across all segments that use flash memory, including data centers, computers, and cell phones and across the consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial sectors.
• According to an article published in electronics-sourcing.com, in October 2021, Samsung spent around USD 11.1 billion in Q2 2021 to increase its NAND capacity, while the Capex of Micron and Hynix spent USD 4.5-USD 5 billion and USD 7 billion, respectively. This shows the increasing demand for NAND flash memory in the market.
• Vendors develop new solutions with better capabilities to cater to growing demands. For instance, in February 2021, Kioxia Corporation and Western Digital Corp. announced the development of a sixth-generation, 162-layer 3D flash memory technology. This is the companies’ highest density and most advanced 3D flash memory technology to date that utilizes a wide range of technology and manufacturing innovations.

Asia Pacific is Expected to Account For Significant Market Share

• The construction of new infrastructure, including data centers, has been growing in China, driven by a surge in demand for online entertainment, telecommuting, and video and voice call services. With the fast development of the digital economy, building large big data centers in the country is becoming more notable. This has led to the growth of non-volatile memory usage in such data centers, which helps reduce downtime caused by a power failure or system crash event, thereby providing significant financial value.
• Furthermore, China entered the flash memory segment with aggressive plans; in the NAND business, Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. Ltd (YMTC) is one of China's major memory companies. The company temporarily shipped 64 layers of NAND domestically in low volumes, including SSDs, with 128-layer production in development and shipments in 2021. YMTC's 2020 boost has been significantly hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, with delays in equipment deliveries or installations at the company's Wuhan manufacturing site. Moreover, stand-alone NOR flash memory is expected to remain the most robust memory business in China due to a well-developed local supply-chain system and the activities of GigaDevice, a key regional player.
• The companies in the region are partnering to innovate further in the next-generation memory segment. For instance, in May 2020, GigaDevice, headquartered in Beijing, China, signed an RRAM (Resistive Random-Access Memory) patent licensing agreement with a semiconductor IP provider, Rambus Inc. The company has signed a licensing agreement with Reliance Memory, a joint venture between GigaDevice, Rambus, and several strategic investment partners. GigaDevice obtained licenses for almost 180 RRAM technology-related applications and patents from Rambus and Reliance Memory under these agreements.
• Moreover, in January 2022, an international research team led by Associate Professor Pham Nam Hai of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, along with other researchers from the University of California, created spin-orbit torque magnetoresistive RAM (SOT-MRAM) devices that integrate magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs) and topological insulators. A readout through a relatively high tunneling magnetoresistance effect and writing utilizing low current density by a topological insulator was demonstrated.
• Companies in the region are utilizing non-volatile memory for various industrial applications. For instance, in November 2021, Floadia Corporation, a provider of embedded flash intellectual property (IP), announced that its high-quality eNVM (embedded Non-volatile Memory), with product name ZT, supporting 150 degrees C retention of 10 years, has been available on Shanghai Huahong Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation 180BCD (Z8) platform. Floadia's ZT has been adopted by several Japanese IDM for various automotive applications such as pressure sensors, driveline systems, motor drivers, and engine control system chips.
• Further, Universities in the region are also developing various technologies related to non-volatile memory. For instance, in April 2020, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, developed magnetic RAM to enable higher data storage and faster computation. The group, which is in the process of patenting the technology, claimed that the spin-transfer torque (STT)-based nano spintronic devices would also put an end to computer data loss due to interruptions of power supply, and hence, may have the capability to transform next-generation smartphones, computers, and other gadgets. According to researchers, magnetic RAMs in which data is represented as the spin of electrons promise better storage capabilities than conventional charge-based RAM.

Competitive Landscape

The non-volatile memory market is highly fragmented as the market is highly competitive and consists of several major players. The competitive rivalry in this industry is primarily dependent on the sustainable competitive advantage through innovation, levels of market penetration, and power of competitive strategy. Since the market is capital intensive, the barriers to exit are high as well. Some of the recent developments of the market are:

• July 2021 - Micron Technology announced that it began mass shipping the world's first 176-layer NAND Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.1 mobile solution. Designed for high-end and flagship phones, Micron's UFS 3.1 discrete mobile NAND memory unlocks the potential of 5G with sequential write and random read speeds of up to 75% compared to previous generations.
• May 2021 - Micross Components Inc. announced an exclusive partnership with Avalanche Technology. With this collaboration, Micross is the exclusive supplier of die and hermetically sealed devices utilizing Avalanche's next-gen Spin Transfer Torque Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM).

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned
 
ROHM Co. Ltd
STMicroelectronics NV
Maxim Integrated Products Inc.
Fujitsu Ltd
Intel Corporation
Honeywell International Inc.
Micron technologies Inc.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd
Crossbar Inc.
Infineon Technologies AG
Avalanche Technologies Inc.
Adesto Technologies Corporation (Dialog Semiconductor PLC)