Aside from specific industry verticals such as fintech that see value in adopting MRAM, Patla said Everspin is targeting three buckets: artificial intelligence (AI), edge computing and digital transformation, which includes data center applications. Because MRAM only users power when reading and writing, it's ideal for edge computing environments as demand for processing outside the data center increases and Internet of Things deployments grow.

 

Price is not the key driver of MRAM adoption, said Patla. Instead, specific applications that need fast, persistent memories are guiding customers' decisions. “People are buying based on the value proposition rather than dollars per gigabyte," he said. 

 

Right now, the price of MRAM is still rather high, said Thomas Coughlin, founder of Coughlin Associates, but it is the most interesting emerging memory technology because its performance is close to SRAM and DRAM, and its endurance is very high. Coughlin said MRAM makes sense for cache buffering, and for specific applications, such as the nvNITRO NVMe storage accelerator for financial applications.

 

“Doing a transaction quickly is important, but having a record is just as important," Coughlin said. "It's an interesting case study. Time is money, and they're making more money than they're spending."

 

Coughlin said specialized niche markets are willing to pay for the combination of speed and non-volatility of MRAM. He noted that Everspin has already shipped more than 70 million units, and its partnership with GlobalFoundries for wafers and embedded products opens up possibilities for increased volume. Satisfying niche markets that pulls in more volume will help Everspin's MRAM become more mainstream. “That's where GlobalFoundries' products come in," he said.