i) the distinction between filamentary and non-filamentary reram. All the filamentary reram companies (such as wbt) have ended up competing in the embedded memory space ("convenience stores") due to physical limitations associated with having a conductive filament. 4ds is going after the much larger market, and effectively virgin territory (if you discount 3D Xpoint), of storage class memory ("banks").
ii) the value of a commercial partner - provides independent validation as well as insight (eg what has previously been trialled/failed) and guidance as to what the market really wants. WBT may well have given away 40nm 1MB arrays to third parties, but responses to date have been from academic institutions, or from service providers that wbt will need to pay to develop its product, rather than serious industry players interested in using/licensing/buying its technology. This tends to suggest a collective yawn from the industry as they are either aware of the limitations of, and limited market for, filamentary reram or have their own filamentary reram technology (including WD) - or just simply have doubts about wbt's tech.
If 4ds completes its MB chip by year end on production compatible equipment (as they keep saying they will), then they wont need to give away samples to all and sundry to try and generate some interest. Rather, the big players will all be knocking the door down.
4DS Price at posting:
5.7¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
