Intel invests in Kingston-affiliated IC design house Skymedi
Intel has invested in Skymedi, a memory controller IC design house in which Kingston Technology has a stake, according to Skymedi. Skymedi is the second Taiwan-based memory controller IC design house in which Intel has invested in eight months. The US chip giant took a 10% stake in InComm Technologies in June 2006, and its latest investment in Skymedi, according to industry sources, also amounts to about a 10% stake.
With Intel’s NAND flash technology and capacity, and Kingston’s orders, Skymedi will continue to develop the memory card and flash drive controller IC market, according to company president Fuja Shone. He revealed that Skymedi will also launch multimedia audio-visual solutions in 2007. Shone said the Intel investment is expected to allow both companies to better use their resources for multimedia applications. Skymedi was founded in September 2003. Currently, its monthly shipments of memory card and flash drive controller ICs amount to five million units, and Kingston accounts for 20-30% of the design house’s revenues, according to industry sources.
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