Following its split with SanDisk, Western Digital’s portfolio is...

Following its split with SanDisk, Western Digital’s portfolio is now primarily focused on Hard Disk Drives (HDD). 4DS Memory no longer algin's with the current portfolio of Western Digital. While WvdH previously noted that Western Digital had shown interest in replacing DRAM in Flash-based architectures, this may still hold interest for SanDisk. However, with a market capitalisation of just $5 billion USD, SanDisk is an unlikely acquirer of 4DS at this stage.

When it comes to MRAM, it is not a serious competitor to 4DS. Our technology is area-based, a key distinction that is often overlooked or not well understood by many here. Due to MRAM’s environmental interference, design/manufacturing complexity and high cost, EMAAS replaced it with filamentary ReRAM, which highlights the real-world limitations of MRAM in scalable applications.

As for why 4DS hasn’t yet been acquired, every milestone we achieve brings us closer to commercialisation. Our success with PL4 at 60nm was significant enough to attract Europe's largest semiconductor company Infineon, who is as we speak actively developing a custom design based on 4DS technology. Some critics here may argue, “we’re paying them,” but if one takes a closer look, they will come to know we are contributing a fraction of the actual cost's, far below the tens of millions typically required to tape out a design for advanced chips.

Just as our fully functional 60nm chip brought Infineon to the table, reaching a commercial node size of 20nm will capture the attention of other major industry heavyweights. Europe, through Infineon, has made the first move. It’s only a matter of time before heavyweights from Asia and the U.S. follow suit.