CPU leader Intel and STMicroelectronics, backed by private equity firm Francisco Partners, announced a joint venture which will focus on both current flash memory production and future technologies such as PCM, or phase-change memory. Intel owns 45 percent of the joint venture called Numonyx, STMicro retains a 49 percent stake and Francisco Partners owns a 6 percent stake.

The new partners will use an agreement STMicroelectronics had with memory producer Hynix for increasing a stake in a Wuxi, China manufacturing facility owned by the latter. Numonyx will have a one third stake which translates in the right to a third of the plant's output.

Apart from its current business in NAND and NOR flash memory, Numonyx has already begun shipping of samples of phase change memory (PCM) chips. Phase-change memory uses a different technology to store data which gives it numerous advantages over classical flash memory. For example, its lifespan is much longer, as PCM chips can survive tens of millions of read-write cycles, far more than flash, CEO Brian Harrison said at a press conference Monday.

PCM is as fast as NOR in reading data and as fast as NAND in writing it, also lacking the erasing cycle which slows down classical flash memory types. Also, a very important feature in today's ever-increasing tendency towards smaller, portable gadgets, the PCM chips will probably consume less power than current technologies.

"It really combines the best attributes of NOR and NAND flash," Harrison said. "Like NOR, it's perfectly suited for running code, but like NAND, you can save data to it quickly," the CEO alleges.

"The most important thing is that it is scalable," Numonyx CTO Ed Doller said. He explained that it is thought that expanding the density of these types of memory chips is relatively easy.