SanDisk
SanDisk is an American brand of Western Digital for flash memory products, including memory cards and readers, USB flash drives, and solid-state drives. It was acquired by Western Digital in 2016.
Western Digital office in Milpitas (formerly headquarters of SanDisk) | |
Formerly | SunDisk |
---|---|
Brand division | |
ISIN | US80004C1018 |
Industry | Storage devices |
Founded | 1988 |
Founders | Eli Harari Sanjay Mehrotra Jack Yuan |
Headquarters | , |
Products | |
Parent | Western Digital |
Website | www |
As of March 2019, Western Digital is the fourth-largest manufacturer of flash memory having declined from third-largest in 2014.[2]
History
SanDisk was founded in 1988 by Eli Harari, Sanjay Mehrotra, and Jack Yuan, incorporated at the time as SunDisk.[3] SanDisk co-founder Eli Harari developed the Floating Gate EEPROM which proved the practicality, reliability and endurance of semiconductor-based data storage.[4]
In 1991 SanDisk produced the first flash based SSD in a 2.5-inch hard disk drive form factor for IBM with a 20 MB capacity priced at about $1000.[5]
On May 10, 2000, the Toshiba Corporation of Japan and the SanDisk Corporation said that they would jointly form a new semiconductor company to produce advanced flash memory, primarily for digital cameras.[6]
SanDisk was acquired by hard disk drive manufacturer Western Digital on May 12, 2016 in a US$19 billion deal.[7][8]
Acquisitions
- In October 2005, SanDisk acquired Matrix Semiconductor.[9]
- In July 2006, SanDisk acquired M-Systems.[10]
- In May 2011, SanDisk acquired Pliant Technology, a manufacturer of solid state drives, for US$327 million.[11]
- In February 2012, SanDisk acquired FlashSoft.[12]
- In June 2012, SanDisk acquired Schooner Information Technology, developer of the flash-optimized database software SchoonerSQL and caching software Membrain.[12]
- In July 2013, SanDisk acquired SMART Storage Systems, a producer of SSDs for the enterprise market, for US$307 million.[13]
- In June 2014, SanDisk acquired Fusion-io, a producer of flash memory for enterprise datacenters, for $1.1 billion.[14]
Awards and recognition
- In 2012, the Enough Project ranked SanDisk the third highest of 24 consumer electronics companies on "progress on conflict minerals".[15]
- In 2014, SanDisk co-founder Harari won the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama for his innovations and contributions to flash memory storage solutions.[16]
See also
- FlashCP
- Secure USB Drive
- StartKey
- U3
- SanDisk Sansa
- Eye-Fi
- ULLtraDIMM
References
- "Market View: NAND Flash Brand Supplier Revenue Falls 6.6% in First Quarter". DRAMeXchange. 2015-02-05. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
- Harris, Scott Duke (2008-07-13). "Mercury News interview: SanDisk CEO helped launch digital revolution". The San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- "Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting: 'Future Directions for Semiconductor Non-Volatile Memory". Santa Clara University: IEEE Electron Devices Society. January 16, 1990.
- "A History of Innovation". Western Digital. 1991. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
- "Toshiba and SanDisk Enter Joint Venture". The New York Times. Reuters. 2000-05-10. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
- Molina, Brett (2015-10-21). "Western Digital to acquire SanDisk for $19B". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
- Vincent, James (2016-05-12). "Western Digital officially closes SanDisk acquisition". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
- Kawamoto, Dawn (2005-10-21). "SanDisk to acquire Matrix Semiconductor". CNET. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
- "SanDisk To Buy msystems". The Street. 2006-07-31. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
- Kovar, Joseph F. (2011-05-16). "SanDisk Plans To Buy SSD Maker Pliant Technology". CRN.com. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
- Kovar, Joseph F. (2012-06-27). "SanDisk Buys Schooner, Moves Into Enterprise Software Space". CRN.com. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
- Dignan, Larry (2013-07-02). "SanDisk acquires SMART Storage Systems for $307 million". ZDNet. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
- Hesseldahl, Arik (2014-06-16). "SanDisk to Acquire Troubled Fusion-io for $1.2 Billion". Recode. Vox Media. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
- Lezhnev, Sasha; Hellmuth, Alex (Aug 2012). "Taking Conflict Out of Consumer Gadgets: Company Rankings on Conflict Minerals 2012" (PDF). Enough Project. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
- Fairsmith, Christine (2014-10-24). "Eli Harari *73 receives honor from President Obama". School of Engineering and Applied Science. Princeton University. Retrieved 2019-07-24.