Intel Gives Up on Optane Memory

Within the semiconductor industry, manufacturing memory chips may be the toughest task. Not technically tough -- manufacturing an advanced CPU or GPU is a lot more complicated than churning out DRAM or NAND chips. Tough because memory chips are largely a commodity. Supply and demand drives pricing, and bad downturns can push the bottom line of memory chip manufacturers deep into the red.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has been working its way out of the memory chip business over the past few years. The company announced the sale of its NAND memory operations to SK Hynix in late 2020, exchanging its NAND component and wafer business, its SSD business, and a NAND manufacturing facility in China for $9 billion. The sale process is complicated and won't be fully completed until 2025.

In an interview earlier this year with Ben Thompson of Stratechery, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger made it very clear how much he dislikes the memory business. "I never want to be in memory, you see I'm doing everything I can to exit our memory businesses in that regard," Gelsinger said.

Source Fool.com