The semiconductor and storage industry in India is evolving rapidly. With increasing demand for high-performance memory and storage, companies like Micron Technology are leading the way. As sectors such as gaming, enterprise computing, and AI expand, there is a growing need for faster and more efficient storage solutions. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal exclusively talked to Rajesh Gupta, Director & Country Manager – Sales, India at Micron Technology about the company's strategy for 2024. He shares insights on how Micron is addressing trends in the industry, launching cutting-edge products, and meeting the needs of a rapidly changing market.
Rajeev: How do you see the demand for Micron’s high-performance storage solutions in India in CY 2024?
Rajesh: There had been an insatiable demand for higher performing storage throughout 2024. This was the year which saw PC demand coming back after post Covid drop. Crucial launched multiple new drives in the Internal SSD segment like P5 plus with heatsink that bridged an industry need for higher performance with better thermal handling. Crucial also launched a drive for highest performing Gen 4 NVMe SSD and specifically tailored for PS5 type requirements as well.
The external SSD segment witnessed successful launches of Crucial X9/X10 Pro featuring industry leading specs and brand Crucial’ s entry into newer portable segments. The year also saw record breaking launch of Crucial T705 as the highest performing Gen 5 NVMe SSD overtaking Crucial T700 which was miles ahead of other players in the market. The demand for 22x30 from factor also grew due to handheld devices, ultra slim laptops and the industry witnessed the adoption of Crucial P310 in this newly created segment.
Micron launched the most awaited 6500 Gen 4 NVMe SSD based on 3D TLC NAND going up to 30TB capacity which created a segment of its own and no other industry player had launched anything in this product segment meant for unknown workloads wherein optimum performance is as important as the lowest TCO and highest density. Micron also launched the much-awaited Enterprise class Gen 5 NVMe SSD 9550 beating the existing industry drives in both performance and power efficiency by a huge margin.
Rajeev: In your opinion, what are the key trends in the semiconductor industry that will impact the storage and memory market in India over the next few years?
Rajesh: The semicon landscape is evolving at breathtaking rate both in Consumer and Enterprise segment. In the consumer segment low power memory (LPDDR) is making its headway due to the power efficiency requirements while still increasing performance. Micron launched LPCAMM2 to bridge the gap by offering LP solution in a plug and play fashion. The industry witnessed successful launch of LPCAMM2 along with Lenovo as well, within 2024.
The semicon industry is seeing transition to higher layers count which is enabling very high-capacity solutions, still enabling outstanding performance and endurance. In the Enterprise segment, Micron launched 6500 SSD at 30TB capacity with TLC 3D NAND due to the quick transition to 232-layer 3D NAND. This quick transition also enabled launch of high capacities in small 22x30 form factor in M.2 NVMe SSDs like the launch of P310 NVMe SSDs. FY2024 saw the crossover happening between DDR4 and DDR5 modules.
The DDR5 adoption is going to accelerate in much faster pace starting FY25 and it is anticipated that the significant part of demand would shift towards the same. The 96GB modules adoption is increasing due to the better TCO, power efficiency, linear cost/bit and better throughput with respect to the higher capacity modules. All these advantages could be mainly attributed to their monolithic architecture when compared with the industry standard 3DS architecture.
MRDIMMs would also push the throughput envelope by around 40% while also reducing latency by 40%. This helps increase the overall capacity of the modules while still being backward compatible with the ubiquitous RDIMMs. MRDIMMs adoption would accelerate in 2025 and beyond.
Rajeev: With the gaming industry increasingly demanding faster and more reliable storage solutions, how are Crucial RAM & SSDs addressing these needs?
Rajesh: Micron plans to focus on gaming market with Crucial Pro and Over-clocking DIMMs to delight end users with plug and play performance and no fuss. The launch of Gen 5 NVMe SSD space with such industry leading products and unmatched performance like T705/T700 will establish Micron leadership in this segment. To cater to the growing storage demands of PS5 and similar devices, Micron has launched purpose built Crucial T500 Gen 4 NVMe SSD which boasts the highest performance in this niche category.
Micron has also introduced Crucial P310 Gen 4 NVMe SSDs to cater to the handheld gaming segment and ultra-thin gaming or high-performance Laptops which have real estate crunch, thus can accommodate only 22x30 M.2 modules. The launch of LPCAMM2 would also help in increasing performance without taking a toll on the battery life for hybrid coding/AI & gaming kind of requirements.
Rajeev: How are Gen AI workloads influencing storage solutions, particularly in terms of capacity and performance? What is Micron’s primary strategies to address the changing demands?
Rajesh: The Gen AI workloads are pushing the limits in terms of performance & capacity required as well as lower latency and power efficiency. Since the Gen AI workloads are dependent on many power-hungry devices (GPUs etc) the other components like SSDs/DRAM can help by being more power efficient. Considering this in mind Micron has introduced Gen 5 NVMe SSD 9550 which reduces power consumption by 43% for GNN workloads, consume 21% less energy for AI models for language processing and 81% less average SSD energy per 1 TB of data transferred for SSD to GPU direct IO.
In addition, Micron’s 96/128GB RDIMMs allow users to have 16% lower latency, highest capacity, 28% faster performance for AI workloads while still offering lowest TCO as it is >24% energy efficient and is based on simplest monolithic design (1 beta process node technology) when compared to 3DS offerings by other players. Micron’s 6500 NVMe SSD would help creating data lakes at lowest possible TCO while still fulfilling the necessary bandwidth and endurance requirements.
Rajeev: Micron has a vast network of channel partners in India. Can you elaborate on the role they play in Micron’s success?
Rajesh: Micron believes channel partners play pivotal role in ensuring end to end customer delight and eventually Micron’s success in the market. Micron's business in India is driven via distribution and is organized into two broad categories: industrial channel and commercial channel. Micron is a leading brand for consumer-focused memory and storage products, including SSDs and DRAM branded as ‘Crucial’ by Micron.
For the 'Crucial' branded consumer products, we have built a large network of resellers, VARs and system integrators across all four regions covering multiple cities in India. Resellers and VAR/SI do a commendable job of making Micron & Crucial branded memory, SSD and storage products widely available through retail outlets and e-commerce markets.
Micron’s Industrial segment distribution focused on Industrial Electronics, Automotive sector, Networking, Surveillance, and a wide variety of embedded segments covering ODMs, EMS and IDHs throughout India. Micron has an exhaustive Industrial distribution network covering all these segments across India.
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