Apple is in talks to acquire Israeli flash storage company Anobit for approximately $400-$500 million dollars, reports TechCrunch. Anobit produces flash memory with a unique technology to increase its durability and performance:
Anobit provides flash storage solutions for the Enterprise and Mobile markets. It’s MSP™ (Memory Signal Processing) technology significantly improves the endurance, performance and cost of flash storage products and systems. Anobit’s products are used by world leading flash manufacturers, consumer electronics vendors and storage system providers.
If the acquisition were to go ahead, it would be one of Apple’s largest acquisitions to date, and would be comparable to the takeover of NEXT back in 1997. Anobit’s MSP technology is described below by Storage-Switzerland.
Essentially this means they can detect flash problems in flash cells when they’re much older, allowing them to extend the usable life of MLC flash significantly longer than other manufacturers. The net of this ability is Anobit’s flash products have much longer endurance than comparable products from other vendors. They claim commercial-grade MLC endurance comparable to that of SLC flash from other manufacturers. Theoretically, this would enable users to replace SLC flash with the more economical MLC products.
It’s unclear why Apple may be considering the purchase, but it would help them retain more control (and perhaps get lower pricing) over the flash memory used in their various devices.
