Just after announcing its plans to shift towards TLC NAND, Micron added that it purchased Tidal Systems which are known to make specific SSD controllers. To main high reliability on TLC NANDs, SSD makers need to have a specific controller to hand error correction and other controllers known as Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC).
Micron manufacturers NANDs for a long time but this is the first that they’ve got their hands on a controller, giving them a set of expertise needed to make an in-house controller and also tailor-made firmware. Until now, Micron relied on third-party SSD controller manufacturers such as Marvell.
Tidal Systems is a very young company, founded in 2014. But its founders Mike Lee and Dr. Cody Wu have an extensive background in electric engineering. Furthermore, Mike Lee was working with Link_A_Media devices which was later acquired by SK Hynix, while Dr. Wu was behind LDPC development while working with SandForce in the past. This is the advantage companies like Micron will gain significant upper hand, and even compete with similar manufacturers such as Samsung.
The post Micron acquired SSD controller manufacturer Tidal Sytems appeared first on Hardware BBQ.