In the ever-evolving technology landscape, certain innovations stand out for their potential to reshape industries and redefine performance standards. One such breakthrough is magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM). This is a type of non-volatile memory that promises faster speeds, greater endurance and lower power consumption compared to traditional memory technologies. MRAM and its embedded variations are gaining significant traction across various sectors. This includes the automotive industry and aerospace and defense. The automotive industry, for example, benefits from an alternative memory type for embedded memory in microcontrollers, which makes it possible to follow Moore’s law and further shrink them. Against this backdrop, it is crucial to delve into the key players driving the MRAM market and embedded RAM technology space to gain insight into their strategic positions.
Understanding the major players in this market is critical for several reasons. The global memory market is poised for substantial growth, driven by increasing demand for high-speed, reliable and energy-efficient memory solutions. As businesses and consumers continue to seek enhanced device performance, MRAM’s unique advantages make it a relevant and competitive option.
Patent filings are a clear sign of increased attention to a specific technology. Usually, the more relevant a technology is, the higher the number of patents filed. As Figure 1 shows, patenting in the MRAM market remained stable between 2004 and 2013. Around 300 to 400 patents filed per year. The only outlier here is 2011, where a spike is observed. On further investigation, it was found that in 2011 Toshiba increased its filing in this technology space, leading to this surge. It is worth noting that the fall-off at the end of the chart is not representative of a decline in interest. Rather, a lag between patent filing and publication.
The chart also includes a count of the MRAM-related IEEE journal and conference publications to complement the filing trend. Literature and conference publications are published faster than patents, so they can also be used to predict trends. These trends, along with the filing trends, indicate that the MRAM patent-filing rates can be expected to stabilize at this new peak.
Figure 2, a unique view in LexisNexis PatentSight+, represents the patent portfolio strength of the top 10 players in the MRAM technology space. The chart shows the active Portfolio Size of each company on the x axis. And the corresponding portfolio’s average patent quality or Competitive Impact on the y axis. The bubble size represents each company’s MRAM patent portfolio strength as measured by the Patent Asset Index.
Considering their active portfolios, the top 10 companies can be divided into three groups:
It is also interesting that of the large players, both TSMC and Samsung have portfolios with comparable average patent qualities.
Samsung and Kioxia – a spin-off of Toshiba – are actual memory device manufacturers that design, manufacture and sell their own memory products. TSMC is a semiconductor foundry that only manufactures devices for its customers. Therefore, without reading through their patents, it can be assumed that Samsung and Kioxia will have significant intellectual property related to mass storage devices. Whereas TSMC focuses on embedded memory.
To understand the competitive dynamics in this space, a variation of the innovation maturity matrix analysis, as seen in WIPO’s “Mapping Innovations: Patents and the Sustainable Development Goals” (2004) was used and looked at the top companies from three dimensions, all related to their patent portfolios. The analysis includes:
Figure 3 shows that TDK, IBM and Western Digital have similar filing patterns with leads to a similar relative recency. However, as indicated by their innovation intensity, they differ considerably in the total number of filings.
While Samsung has filed more MRAM patents than TSMC overall (indicated by its higher innovation intensity), TSMC has proven to be more active in recent patent filings, as suggested by its greater relative recency. This observation is further supported by the median age of active MRAM patents, which is around nine years for Samsung and six for TSMC.
Notably, TSMC’s active portfolio size has a CAGR approximately 10 times higher than that of Samsung. This suggests that TSMC is likely to maintain its momentum in MRAM development by increasing its relative recency and innovation intensity, which indicates that MRAM is currently a hot topic for the company.
On the other hand, Samsung is expected to essentially maintain its existing innovation intensity while experiencing a decline in relative recency. This implies that Samsung will likely sustain its current MRAM portfolio without a significant increase in interest or investment in the technology for the time being.
These patent filing trends are indicative of a more stabilised and mature market. The main companies operating in this space have already cemented their strategies. While it is interesting to see smaller players like Sanken and SK Hynix in the top 10 list, the major players (ie, Samsung and TSMC) are leading the market in terms of portfolio size and quality.
Earlier this year, NXP stated that “in collaboration with TSMC, [they] jointly developed the industry’s first automotive 16 nm FinFET embedded MRAM to support next-generation vehicle architectures”. This collaboration underscores the growing importance of MRAM in the automotive sector. The goal is to enhance performance and reliability in advanced automotive applications.
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