Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) have announced that they have stopped the 3D Xpoint™ Joint Development Program.  The two companies announced that they have since revised the terms of the partnership.  The partnership will finally be called off after the completion of the second generation of 3D XPoint, which is expected in the first quarter of 2019.

Pursue independent development

The two companies will separate their own independent development of the second generation of the 3D XPoint technology.  The companies will undertake the independent development so as to integrate the technology in their respective products as well as business needs.

The new announcement comes few weeks after the two companies ceased the joint development of NAND.  The companies were developing NAND under the Intel-Micron Flash Technologies (IMFT) partnership. The companies will however continue the joint development of the storied IMFT franchise.

In a statement, Micron executive vice president of Technology Development Scott DeBoer said that the company has a high reputation in innovation with over 40 years of global expertise in memory technology development. He added that the technology has enabled the company to develop several products to address different market needs.  According to Scott, the technology will allow customers to access unique storage and memory capabilities.

Micron’s SSDs are yet to make it to the market

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Micron launched its 3D XPoint-based QuantX products in 2016 but the SSDs never reached the market. This left Intel as the only seller of3D XPoint-based products. Micron has been buying Intel’s excess 3D XPoint production capacity.

In a recent earnings call, Sanjay Mehrotra, the CEO of Micron announced that XPoint sales to Intel were dropping causing the company’s to incur under-utilization charges.  Micron went ahead and said that it doesn’t intend to sell any 3D XPoint to Intel in the future.

Sales from 3D XPoints have been dropping causing a lot of concern. Despite Intel launching new memory to the market, pricing has been a major source of concern. Intel is currently working on ramping the production of its DIMMs who production has been long overdue.