Grandis (company)

Grandis, Inc., founded in 2002 by Paul Nguyen, was a company backed by venture capital firms such as Sevin Rosen Funds and Matrix Partners to pioneer non-volatile thin-film memory solutions based on spintronics. It invented spin transfer torque - random access memory (STT-RAM), a new technology claimed to revolutionize the performance of products in areas ranging from computers and consumer electronics to automotive, medical, military, and space.

History

Grandis, Inc. was founded in Milpitas, CA in 2002 by Paul Nguyen, a thin film coating expert from IBM, as the first president. Bill Almon was then brought in to help with fundraising. The company afterwards hired Yiming Huai as CTO as well as other employees as it expanded its operation. Farhad Tabrizi, a seasoned executive from Lexar Media/Micron Technology and Hynix, joined later as CEO. Tabrizi, together with first-tier venture capitalist Steve Dominik, played an instrumental role in establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships with important partners such as Hynix and Renesas.

Grandis invented the first spin-transfer torque thin film structures based on magnetic tunnel junctions and quickly became the leader in the STT-RAM space. In 2011, Grandis was acquired by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd and merged into Samsung's memory operations.^[1]

Products and technologies

Grandis supplies thin film memory devices. The company is also a licensor of magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) process and design technology to fabless semiconductor companies, wafer foundries, and integrated device manufacturers. Target applications include storage, telecommunications, mobile devices, and computer networking.

Grandis pioneered and developed the first STT-RAM thin film structures. Its technology addressed the problems of write selectivity and speed, low read signal, and thermal stability that other products in the Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) industry suffered from.

Patents

The company owns over 200 patents which it licensed to major memory corporations including Samsung, Sony, Renesas, and Hynix.

Investors

Grandis's venture capital investors included Matrix Partners, Sevin Rosen Partners, and Applied Materials Ventures. The acquisition by Samsung resulted in a very successful exit for Grandis's investors.^[2]

References

1. ↑ "Samsung Buys Grandis As MRAM Moves Toward Mainstream". Fox Business. 2011-08-01. Retrieved 2011-08-01. 
2. ↑ "The Daily Start-Up: Samsung Makes MRAM Push With Grandis Buy". WSJ. 2011-08-02. Retrieved 2011-08-02.