Netlist Inc.’s new joint venture with the world’s largest electronics company paves a path to produce a new hybrid storage-class memory product geared for cloud computing, big data, and server and storage customers that could ultimately reshape the Irvine-based company’s story on Wall Street.
It will receive $23 million from South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. and have access to thousands of patents to co-develop a product that combines Netlist’s HyperVault product with Samsung’s DRAM and NAND memory technology.
DRAM is a maturing type of memory that has hit its ceiling in terms of capacity and speed, whereas NAND flash costs much less and provides higher capacity, though it’s not nearly as fast as DRAM.
Netlist has invested about $50 million in HyperVault, which is billed as combining the best attributes of memory and storage into a single design.
“We’ve got the product to a certain level but need to take it into commercialization,” Netlist Chief Executive C.K. Hong said.
Targeted customers would include the likes of Oracle, Dell, HP, IBM, Lenovo and EMC.
If the product becomes commercially viable and hits certain sales benchmarks, Samsung has the first right of refusal to acquire the technology outright.
The companies plan to launch a product this year.
Netlist shares have languished under $1 on the NASDAQ for several months as adoption of its products has been hampered for years by patent disputes and ongoing litigation.
Hong said the company is working to establish a viable licensing business that will likely produce a “major announcement” this year and bring in “significant” revenue.
“Getting a major licensing agreement under our belts will be very important to our story going forward,” he said.
Tech Job Losses
U.S. technology sector job cuts dipped 21% last year after reaching a five-year high in 2014.
The fast-moving sector, which includes computer, electronic and telecommunications firms, announced 79,315 planned job cuts last year, according to Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
That fell from 100,757 in 2014, the highest figure since the depth of the recession in 2009 when 174,629 jobs were cut.
The ailing computer segment, hit hard by the popularity of smartphones, longer life cycles, lukewarm adoption of Windows 10, and other factors, led with 62,191 job cuts, up 5% over 2014. Several big players, including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Intel and Unisys, shed thousands of workers.
The tech sector accounted for 13% of the 598,510 total job cuts announced last year.
Several notable OC companies contributed to the count, including Costa Mesa-based printed circuit maker TTM Technologies Inc.; networking gear maker Emulex Corp., which shed jobs in Costa Mesa after it was acquired by Avago Technologies Ltd.; Irvine-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp.; and New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., which cut 1,000 jobs with the closure of its Irvine call center in a nationwide, multibillion-dollar cost-cutting plan.
Bits & Pieces
Congressman Ken Calvert, R-Corona, recently toured the Irvine Spectrum headquarters of Meggitt Defense Systems Inc., which designs and manufactures ammunition handling, radar and digital processing, and environmental control systems. The company, which employs about 250 locally, is part of U.K.-based Meggitt PLC, OC’s 11th largest defense contractor and aerospace company. … Another first for Laguna Beach startup NextVR Inc.: The company partnered with Fox Sports to broadcast Premier Boxing Champions matches late last month at Staples Center, marking the first live virtual-reality stream inside the ropes.
