Micron Launches World’s First 1.5TB microSD Card and Automotive Functional Safety Certified Memory Products

Micron Launches World’s First 1.5TB MicroSD Card and Automotive Functional Safety Certified Memory Products to Support Intelligent Edge Data Storage

Micron's 176-layer NAND and 1α DRAM innovations expand into industrial and automotive markets through embedded solutions and partnerships

Shanghai, June 24, 2022 - Micron Technology, Inc., a leading supplier of memory and storage solutions, recently announced the expansion of its embedded product portfolio and ecosystem partner lineup, launching a series of powerful optimized solutions to meet the complex memory and storage needs of the intelligent edge. Micron has begun sending samples of the world's highest-capacity microSD card product i400 to customers, with an industry-unprecedented density of 1.5TB. The product uses Micron's world's first 176-layer 3D NAND technology and is designed for industrial-grade video security applications. In order to better provide the industrial market with high-performance, stable and durable solutions, Micron has also added partners to the Industrial Quotient (IQ) partner program. In addition, the company also announced that the low-power LPDDR5 DRAM based on Micron's market-leading 1α (1-alpha) process node has obtained the first International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26262 Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D memory certification. The next generation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) applications have increasingly higher requirements for autonomous driving and safety. Obtaining this certification demonstrates that Micron's LPDDR5 products meet strict functional safety standards and will enable innovation to help smart cars achieve fully autonomous driving in the future.

With the continuous integration of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) at the edge, related equipment in the fields of autonomous vehicles, video security, smart factories, energy infrastructure, robotics, industrial transportation, and healthcare is growing rapidly. According to ABI Research, there will be 25 billion connected devices in the world by 2026, and each device will generate a large amount of mission-critical data. These data generated at the edge increasingly need to be stored, managed, and analyzed on-site to obtain usable real-time insights. In order to better accomplish these tasks, the market needs industrial-grade memory and storage solutions that can handle large data sets in harsh environments such as high temperature, shock, and vibration.

“As edge devices provide critical insights for industries ranging from public safety to autonomous vehicles to manufacturing operations, today’s intelligent applications are placing high demands on device latency and quality,” said Kris Baxter, corporate vice president and general manager of Micron’s Embedded Business Unit. “The performance and ruggedness of Micron’s newly released i400 microSD cards for video security applications and ASIL D-compliant automotive LPDDR5 memory will unlock new value for enterprises and drive rapid innovation at the intelligent edge.”

These solutions have features built specifically for industrial applications and will create more value for companies in the intelligent edge industry. Unlike consumer-grade memory and storage products that may fail in industrial environments and cause loss of critical data or operational interruptions, Micron's i400 and automotive LPDDR5 are specially customized to have longer service life and high reliability, helping companies accelerate innovation and gain greater business value from the edge.

World’s First 1.5TB microSD Card Provides Industrial-Grade Storage for AI-Enhanced Video Security Applications

As the demand for real-time video security continues to grow, the market size of Internet Protocol video security and video security as a service (VSaaS) is expected to grow to $83 billion by 2030. Fleet dashcams, smart home security, police body cameras, and AI-enabled factory cameras all require storage devices to handle rich media data. As the world's highest-capacity microSD card, Micron i400 is ideal for edge video storage and VSaaS hybrid mode deployments.

The large capacity of 1.5TB can store up to 4 months (120 days) of video security media data locally, allowing users to choose which data to upload to the cloud first. Large-capacity local storage eliminates the need to use the cloud as primary storage due to the need to continuously upload data to the cloud, thereby reducing network bandwidth and operating expenses. Small businesses or remote workplaces seeking to reduce expensive network bandwidth costs (such as cargo ships and oil rigs with limited network connectivity) can use the i400 at the edge for daily storage and then upload data to the cloud for backup regularly. Primary storage devices at the edge can help smart cameras perform real-time AI analysis and faster decision-making. This speed increase is particularly important for applications in key areas such as law enforcement, public health, and security decision-making.

Unlike most consumer-grade microSD cards on the market that have slower write speeds, the i400 is designed specifically for video security environments and offers the following features:

• Five years of continuous 24x7 high-quality video recording

• Can simultaneously process 4K video recording and up to 8 AI events per second, such as object detection and classification like license plate or face recognition

• MTBF up to 2 million hours

Micron has sampled the i400 to customers including Verkada, a cloud-hosted enterprise building security provider. Verkada uses its smart camera products to provide security services to more than 12,000 businesses, including 43 of the Fortune 500. Verkada recently donated cameras to Asian American-owned businesses to help them improve security surveillance in response to a surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans, which surged 339% in the United States last year.

“Micron’s industrial-grade storage, which meets the most demanding video retention and security requirements, plays a critical role in helping us protect customers and communities, such as schools and large enterprises,” said Raj Misra, vice president of hardware engineering at Verkada. “The new i400 solution gives customers greater peace of mind by enabling higher-capacity video storage at the edge and faster in-camera AI analytics, capabilities that are essential during crisis events when response time is critical.”

Micron LPDDR5 becomes the world's first memory to obtain ISO 26262 standard ASIL D certification

Today’s ADAS-equipped vehicles run more than 100 million lines of code per second, requiring up to 100 trillion operations of data processing, rivaling data centers. According to Gartner®, the global factory-assembled automotive memory market will grow to nearly $15 billion by 2026, quadrupling from $3.3 billion last year. At the same time, automakers must comply with strict functional safety standards for electronic systems. For safety-critical applications such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and blind spot detection, stable and reliable high-performance memory is essential. High-performance memory is also a key device for ADAS technologies such as automatic valet parking and carpooling, 4D digital imaging radar, and hands-free experience. These technologies will pave the way for L5-level fully autonomous driving.

Micron's automotive LPDDR5 memory meets these needs and has been certified by exida, a well-known professional company in the field of automotive safety, to meet the highest level of automotive safety integrity level ASIL D in the ISO 26262 standard. The high performance, low power consumption and low latency characteristics of LPDDR5 are also ready for the growing bandwidth requirements of next-generation automotive systems. Micron LPDDR5 is currently in mass production in 48Gb and 96Gb specifications, with the following advantages:

• Proprietary on-chip safety features: including the ability to detect systematic and random hardware failures and alert the system, allowing the vehicle to react and respond intelligently;

• Up to 50% faster data access: Enables smart cars to process data from multiple sensors and data sources, such as radar, lidar, high-resolution imaging, 5G networks and optical image recognition, to make near real-time decisions;

• Energy efficiency improved by more than 30%: It can significantly reduce the energy consumption of electric and traditional vehicles, thereby achieving more environmentally friendly, longer-distance transportation and reducing tailpipe emissions

“At Rivian, we’re committed to empowering drivers to explore roads less traveled while protecting the future of our planet. We do this through groundbreaking electric vehicles – reducing carbon emissions and providing a greener alternative to gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks, ” said Vidya Rajagopalan, vice president of hardware engineering at Rivian. “Micron’s low-power automotive memory addresses an important need in this space by enabling feature-rich, data-intensive in-car experiences. With the introduction of ASIL D-certified LPDDR5, Micron will help create greener vehicles for the most intrepid explorers and further advance automotive technology innovation that is disrupting a century-old industry.”

“Uhnder is driving a fundamental shift from traditional analog to digital radar sensors, which will provide automakers with more accurate information, enabling them to develop sophisticated algorithms to save lives,” said Max Liberman, vice president of Uhnder’s chip business. “Delivering this technology requires automotive-qualified memory that can handle staggering amounts of data at higher speeds and reliability. Micron’s high-performance memory is key to delivering this extreme bandwidth, and with the recent ASIL D certification of its LPDDR5 products, Micron will further drive innovation and safety in future automotive applications.”