Crucial 2011 Annual Report Download - page 4

We have made significant investments to develop the proprietary product and process technology that is implemented in our worldwide
manufacturing facilities and through our joint ventures to enable the production of semiconductor products with increasing functionality and
performance at lower costs. We generally reduce the manufacturing cost of each generation of product through advancements in product and
process technology such as our leading-edge line-width process technology and innovative array architecture. We continue to introduce new
generations of products that offer improved performance characteristics, such as higher data transfer rates, reduced package size, lower power
consumption and increased memory density. To leverage our significant investments in research and development, we have formed various
strategic joint ventures that have allowed us to share the costs of developing memory product and process technologies with our joint venture
partners. In addition, from time to time, we have also sold and/or licensed technology to other parties. We continue to pursue additional
opportunities to monetize our investment in intellectual property through partnering and other arrangements.
In the second quarter of 2011, we reorganized our business to better align with the markets we serve. All prior period amounts have been
retrospectively adjusted to reflect this reorganization. After the reorganization, we have the following four reportable segments:
DRAM Solutions Group ("DSG"): Includes high-volume DRAM products sold to the PC, consumer electronics, networking and server
markets.
NAND Solutions Group ("NSG"): Includes high-volume NAND Flash products sold into data storage, personal music players, and portions
of computing markets, as well as NAND Flash products sold to Intel Corporation ("Intel") through our consolidated IM Flash joint
ventures.
Wireless Solutions Group ("WSG"): Includes DRAM, NAND Flash and NOR Flash products, including multi-chip packages, sold to the
mobile device market.
Embedded Solutions Group ("ESG"): Includes DRAM, NAND Flash and NOR Flash products sold into automotive and industrial
applications, as well as NOR and NAND Flash sold to consumer electronics, networking, PC and server markets.
Our other operations do not meet the quantitative thresholds of a reportable segment and are reported under All Other. All Other includes our
CMOS image sensor, LED, microdisplay and solar operations.
Products
Over the past several years we have been focused on diversifying our product portfolio beyond DRAM products, which historically had
constituted a substantial majority of our sales. In 2011, sales of DRAM products were less than half our total sales and in the fourth quarter of
2011 sales of NAND Flash products exceeded sales of DRAM products for the first time in our history.
Dynamic Random Access Memory ("DRAM")
DRAM products are high-density, low-cost-per-bit, random access memory devices that provide high-speed data storage and retrieval.
DRAM products were 41%, 60% and 50% of our total net sales in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. DRAM products are sold by the DSG, WSG
and ESG segments. We offer DRAM products with a variety of performance, pricing and other characteristics including high-volume DDR3 and
DDR2 products as well as specialty DRAM memory products including Mobile Low Power DRAM ("LPDRAM"), DDR, SDRAM, Reduced
Latency DRAM ("RLDRAM") and Pseudo-static DRAM ("PSRAM").
DDR3 and DDR2 : DDR3 and DDR2 are standardized, high-density, high-volume DRAM products that are sold primarily for use as
main system memory in computers and servers. DDR3 and DDR2 products offer high speed and high bandwidth at a relatively low cost compared
to other DRAM products. DDR3 products were 21%, 22% and 7% of our total net sales in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. DDR2 products
were 10%, 24% and 22% of our total net sales in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.
We offer DDR3 products in 1 gigabit ("Gb"), 2Gb and 4 Gb densities and DDR2 products in 256 megabit ("Mb"), 512 Mb, 1 gigabit and
2 Gb densities. We expect these densities will be necessary to meet future customer demands for a broad array of products and offer these
products in multiple configurations, speeds and package types.
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