Micromax and Phison Partner to Launch MiPhi, Powering India’s Next-Generation of NAND Storage Technology

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 19, 2024--

Micromax Informatics, India’s home-grown consumer electronics brand and Phison, a leading innovator in NAND controller and NAND storage technologies, have launched MiPhi, a strategic joint venture poised to revolutionize India’s technology landscape.

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As India emerges as a global economic hub, this partnership supports the nation's vision of ‘Making AI in India,’ aligning with its ambition to become a global leader in artificial intelligence. The strategic partnership announcement demonstrates this commitment by combining the key differentiators of two industry leaders to drive innovation, expand product offerings, and bolster India’s ambitions as a global AI superpower. With a vision to enhance GPU efficiency and deliver advanced NAND storage solutions, MiPhi will introduce the world’s lowest per-token cost and energy consumption for AI use cases.

Through MiPhi, the joint venture aims to empower the Indian market with cutting-edge NAND storage solutions, providing unparalleled convenience and technological advantages. The collaboration leverages Micromax’s deep-rooted customer relationships within India and Phison’s expertise in NAND storage technology to foster a strong, synergistic partnership that expands opportunities and business growth across enterprise, consumer, embedded, AI, and security applications within India’s burgeoning tech ecosystem and specific agreed-upon regions.

“We are thrilled to announce our joint venture with Phison, uniting our capabilities to drive a new wave of innovation in the Indian technology landscape,” said Rahul Sharma, Co-founder, Micromax Informatics. “By combining our local market expertise with Phison’s critical technological prowess, we are poised to deliver breakthrough solutions. The joint venture kicks off a new chapter with an aim to harness the full potential of emerging technologies and contribute to the future of digital transformation across industries. With this venture, we aim to bring down the cost of GPU by 1/10 th by bringing the lowest per token cost in the world. This will help us in disrupting the AI landscape not only in India but also in specific agreed-upon regions.”

“India has been a hub for technological growth, and now the vision set forth from the government further enables homegrown companies to innovate at an exponentially higher rate,” said K.S. Pua, CEO of Phison. “Phison is delighted to partner with Micromax. Together, we are committed to leveraging our combined resources and expertise to establish MiPhi as a leading force in India’s NAND storage ecosystem. By uniting Micromax’s local market understanding with Phison’s world-class storage technologies, we’re well-positioned to create impactful solutions across SMBs, automotive, IoT, AI, enterprise workloads, and beyond.

The collaboration between Micromax, leading Indian electronics brand renowned for its expertise in manufacturing and marketing tech products, and Phison, a global pioneer in NAND storage solutions and technology, will position MiPhi as a key innovation hub in India. Phison’s impressive portfolio, with over 2,000 patents and a legacy of industry-first innovations, coupled with its commitment to R&D—investing 80% of its OPEX (Operating Expense)—equips the company to provide vital technical insights to MiPhi’s operations. This strategic alliance will drive MiPhi’s contribution to India’s technological future, harnessing local manufacturing and sales channels to accelerate the growth of the country’s storage economy.

As a part of the joint venture, MiPhi’s distinctive approach to drive innovation includes:

MiPhi will specialize in custom-designed NAND storage solutions for AI, enterprise, and automotive use cases, addressing the needs of both Indian and specific agreed-upon markets. The joint venture’s focus on innovation and collaboration ensures a robust, connected ecosystem powered by advanced semiconductor solutions. With a strong local manufacturing partnership and in-house NAND controller technology, Phison reinforces its commitment to comprehensive support, including local RMA services and a sales channel to India and specific agreed-upon regions for efficient customer service.

About Micromax Informatics Ltd.

Micromax Informatics, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, is one of India’s leading homegrown consumer electronics brands. The company has been at the forefront of democratizing technology by offering innovative, affordable, and feature-rich products, including smartphones, laptops, tablets, and televisions. Known for its iconic Canvas series, Micromax revolutionized the Indian smartphone market by delivering advanced technology to budget-conscious consumers.

Driven by its vision of making technology accessible to all, Micromax has diversified into smart devices and consumer electronics to meet evolving customer needs. As part of its commitment to "Make in India", the brand has invested significantly in local manufacturing and innovation, supporting India's push for self-reliance in electronics production. With state-of-the-art facilities in Rudrapur, Hyderabad, Greater Noida, and Rajasthan, Micromax produces a range of products, including mobile phones and all consumer electronics. For more information, please visit: www.micromaxinfo.com

About Phison

Phison Electronics Corp. (TPEX:8299) is a global leader in NAND Flash controller IC and storage solutions. We provide a variety of services from controller design, system integration, IP licensing to total turnkey solutions, covering applications across SSD (PCIe/SATA/PATA), eMMC, UFS, SD and USB interfaces, reaching out to consumer, industrial and enterprise markets. As an active member of industry associations, Phison is on the Board of Directors for SDA, ONFI, UFSA and a contributor for JEDEC, PCI-SIG, MIPI, NVMe and IEEE-SA. For more information, please visit http://www.phison.com.

Micromax and Phison partner to launch MiPhi, a joint venture (Graphic: Business Wire)

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — The suspect charged with shooting to death a health insurance company chief executive on a Manhattan street will be taken Thursday morning to hearings on related Pennsylvania criminal charges and efforts to extradite him to New York.

The preliminary hearing on forgery and firearms charges and consideration of a fugitive from justice complaint against Luigi Mangione may not take long.

He is expected to waive extradition, clearing the way for his return to New York, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

Court officials said Mangione will attend the early morning proceedings at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg. If a judge authorizes his extradition, Mangione would then be brought to New York, where he could appear in state court for arraignment Thursday afternoon or Friday.

The district attorney in Blair County, Pennsylvania, Pete Weeks, has said he was willing to put the Pennsylvania charges on hold while New York authorities prosecute Mangione for the Dec. 4 killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson. Mangione faces charges of murder as an act of terrorism in New York.

Weeks said he would not talk about what might happen at the Thursday hearings or if evidence will be presented. Mangione is accused of giving police a fake New Jersey identification and having a gun and silencer in his bag.

“Those are decisions that rest exclusively with Mr. Mangione and the rights afforded to him,” Weeks wrote in a news release sent out Tuesday.

In a court filing last week, Mangione defense attorney Tom Dickey argued prosecutors hadn't shown there's sufficient evidence to hold Mangione, that he was in New York when Thompson was killed or that he is a fugitive from justice.

Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested on Dec. 9 when police were called to a McDonald's restaurant on a commercial strip in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was reported to match the description of Thompson's killer.

Thompson was gunned down on the street as he walked to the hotel where his Minnesota-based company was holding an investor conference. The shooting was captured on security video, but the suspect eluded police before Mangione was captured about 277 miles (446 kilometers) west of New York.

Authorities say Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, a fake ID and about $10,000 in U.S. and foreign currency. His lawyer, Dickey, has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal basis for a gun charge. He had previously indicated Mangione would fight extradition to New York while being held in a Pennsylvania state prison.

Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent family, was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies “parasitic” and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week.

Sisak reported from New York.

Luigi Nicholas Mangione is escorted into Blair County Courthouse, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Gary M. Baranec)

This combo image release by Pennsylvania State Police shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pa., Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP)

Suspect Luigi Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa. (Benjamin B. Braun/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)