Lexar
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(November 2013) |
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Memory storage |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founders | John Reimer, Mike Liccardo, Paul Wenz, Petro Estakhri |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California,U.S. |
| Products | SD card USB flash drives Solid-state drives Flash memory CompactFlash cards Card readers XQD |
| Parent | Shenzhen Longsys Electronics Co. (2017–present) |
| Website | www |
Lexar Internationalis a brand offlash memoryproducts manufactured by the Chinese memory companyLongsys.
The Lexar "JumpDrive" trademark was often used synonymously with the termUSB flash driveswhen the technology was first adopted.
History[edit]
Early years (1996–2006)[edit]
Lexar was founded as anAmericanmanufacturerofdigital mediaproductsbased inSan Jose, California.Products manufactured by Lexar includeSD cards,CompactFlashcards,USB flash drives,card readers andsolid-state drives.[1]Once a division ofCirrus Logic,Lexar leveraged its parent company's experience in buildingATAcontrollers in developing its ownflash controllers.Lexar was spun off fromCirrus Logicin 1996.[2]Lexar was created by Petro Estakhri and Mike Assar.[3]
In 2005, Lexar was awarded $380 million in a lawsuit againstToshibawho copied Lexar's flash memory technology.[3][4]
Under Micron ownership (2006–2017)[edit]
Lexar was acquired byMicron Technologyin 2006,[5]and subsequently merged with Crucial Technology under the name Lexar Media, a subsidiary of Micron. In September 2007, Lexar extended its agreement withEastman Kodak Companyto develop and marketKodak-brandedflash memoryproducts worldwide.[6]
On June 26, 2017, Micron (the then-owner of the brand) announced it was to discontinue the Lexar retail removable media storage business and put part or all of the business up for sale.[7]
Under Longsys ownership (2017–present)[edit]
On August 31, 2017, the Lexar brand and trademark rights were acquired byLongsys,a flash memory company based inShenzhen,China.[8]
In 2018, Lexar reentered the flash storage market.[9]
In January 2019, the company unveiled the first SD card with a storage capacity of 1terabyte(TB).[10]
In December 2019, Lexar demonstrated a prototype 7.5 GB/s PCIe 4.0 SSD which is set to be the world's fastest consumer SSD.[11][12]
In April 2020, Lexar released its world's smallest memory card (nCARD) featuring Xtacking tech from Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC).[13]
In June 2020, Lexar announced its entry to the DRAM market by unveiling seven different DDR4-2666 memory kits for mainstream laptops and desktops. Lexar also plans to release faster, 3000 MHz and 3200 MHz memory kits in the future, along with kits "with heatsinks and RGB lighting", targeting gamers and enthusiasts.[14]
USB FlashCard[edit]
USB FlashCardis a flash memory card format developed by Lexar, and announced on December 13, 2004.[15]
There is a wide range of existing memory card formats such asSD,xD,andCompactFlash;the major advantage of USB FlashCard is that the cards are in fact standardUSBflash drives.[16]The USB FlashCard uses a modifiedUSB Type Aplug which keeps the total thickness of the card to under 4.5 mm. Because of its small size and USB compatibility, a USB FlashCard could, for example, be accessed by either a digital camera or a modernpersonal computerwithout the need for acard reader.
Lexar has published the specifications for its USB FlashCard form factor[16]on its website in an open and royalty-free format, in the hopes that other memory card and portable device manufacturers will adopt it.
The specifications for the USB FlashCard published by Lexar show its dimensions to be 31.75 mm × 12 mm × 4.5 mm. The volume is comparable to the widely adopted SD cards (32 mm × 24 mm × 2.1 mm). The USB FlashCard has nearly the same length as the SD card, but is half as wide, and approximately twice as thick.
References[edit]
- ^"Lexar Adds Xploder Lite Software To Its Gaming Edition Memory Cards".Lexar Media, Inc. Archived fromthe originalon 10 November 2013.Retrieved10 November2013.
- ^"Lexar Media Holds The Right Cards".Forbes.Retrieved10 November2013.
- ^ab"Lexar Awarded $380 Million in Damages".PhotographyBlog.com.Photo 360 Limited.Retrieved10 November2013.
- ^"Lexar wins patent suit against Toshiba".Silicon Valley Business Journal. March 23, 2005.RetrievedOctober 7,2015.
- ^"Micron Technology, Inc., and Lexar Media, Inc. Announce Completion of Transaction"(Press release). 21 June 2006. Archived fromthe originalon March 9, 2017.Retrieved28 October2018.
- ^"Kodak and Lexar Announce New Extended Five-Year Agreement".Business Wire. 4 September 2007.Retrieved10 November2013.
- ^Hawkins, Jay (26 June 2017)."Micron Technology, Inc. – Micron Discontinuing Lexar Removable Storage Retail Business".Micron.com.Archived fromthe originalon 25 August 2017.Retrieved24 August2017.
- ^"Longsys Acquires Lexar Brand, a Leading Brand for High-Performance Removable Storage Solutions".Longsys.com.31 August 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 1 September 2017.Retrieved13 September2017.
Longsys [..] today announced that it has acquired the Lexar trademark and branding rights from Micron Technology, Inc.
- ^Wodinsky, Shoshana (17 August 2018)."Lexar's making a glorious return to the world of flash storage".The Verge.Retrieved27 April2019.
- ^"Lexar Announces 1TB 633x SDXC UHS-I card, the behemoth of storage capacity".Lexar.9 January 2019.Retrieved10 January2019.
- ^Mellor, Chris (2019-12-17)."Lexar demos world's fastest consumer SSD".Blocks and Files.Retrieved2020-02-21.
- ^"Lexar Is Testing a 7GB/s PCIe SSD".PCMAG.Retrieved2020-02-21.
- ^"Longsys & Yangtze Memory Technologies Revealed the World's Smallest MicroSD Card".Gadgetsay.21 April 2020.Retrieved24 April2020.
- ^"Lexar launches its first-ever DRAM kits, promises faster RAM is coming".PC Gamer.19 June 2020.Retrieved21 June2020.
- ^Lexar – Newsroom – Press ReleasesArchivedOctober 20, 2006, at theWayback Machine
- ^abLexar – USB FlashCardArchivedFebruary 24, 2006, at theWayback Machine
External links[edit]
| Former subsidiaries |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Products | ||
| People | ||
- 1996 establishments in California
- 2006 mergers and acquisitions
- 2017 mergers and acquisitions
- American companies established in 1996
- American subsidiaries of foreign companies
- Computer companies established in 1996
- Computer companies of the United States
- Computer hardware companies
- Computer memory companies
- Corporate spin-offs
- Manufacturing companies based in San Jose, California
- Micron Technology
- Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area