Intel and Micron to end NAND flash partnership after the introduction of 3rd gen 3D NAND in late 2018/early 2019, will continue 3D XPoint memory collaboration
Context & Ripple Effects
Intel and Micron built one of the industry's closest memory alliances: together they introduced 3D NAND that promised to triple SSD capacity and unveiled 3D XPoint, pitched as roughly 1,000 times faster than flash. This announcement splits the alliance down the middle — the jointly developed NAND line ends after third-generation 3D NAND ships in late 2018/early 2019, while 3D XPoint remains a shared project.
That split proved prescient in both directions. The partners still managed one more joint product, the QLC NAND launch trading endurance for cost, but the XPoint collaboration eventually collapsed too: Micron ceased all 3D XPoint R&D and listed its Lehi fab for sale in 2021, and Intel wound down Optane with a $559M inventory impairment in 2022.
First-order effects
- Micron takes full control of its NAND roadmap and fab output after third-gen 3D NAND, freeing it to price and position flash independently of Intel's SSD business.
- Intel loses its captive NAND supply arrangement and must either build its own flash operation or source NAND on the open market for its storage products.
Second-order effects
- With Intel out of co-developed NAND, Micron competes head-to-head against Samsung, SK Hynix, Toshiba and WD without a partner sharing its technology, sharpening pricing pressure across the flash market.
- The 3D XPoint collaboration survives on paper, but without a shared NAND manufacturing base the venture depends entirely on Intel's Optane demand — the single point of failure that later broke it.
Third-order effects
- The pattern here ran to completion: the NAND split was followed by Micron abandoning 3D XPoint R&D and Intel exiting Optane entirely, showing that even flagship joint memory ventures unwind when one partner's volume no longer justifies shared fabs.
- Memory suppliers are consolidating around standalone strategies rather than cross-manufacturer development pacts, leaving each firm to fund its own process transitions — a structure where only players with sustained capital can stay in leading-edge NAND.
The trend: Flash and emerging-memory partnerships are dissolving as Intel and Micron each pursue standalone memory strategies, a split that ultimately claimed 3D XPoint itself.