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)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States is warning shipping companies that they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The alert posted Friday by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the U.S. and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.

About a fifth of the world's trade in oil and natural gas typically passes through the strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in peacetime.

Iran effectively closed the strait to normal traffic by attacking and threatening to attack ships after the U.S. and Israel launched a war on Feb. 28. It later began offering some ships safe passage by detouring them through alternate routes closer to its shoreline, charging fees at times for the service.

That “tollbooth” effort is the focus of the U.S. sanctions warning.

The payment demands could include transfers not only in cash but also “digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments,” including charitable donations and payments at Iranian embassies, OFAC said.

“OFAC is issuing this alert to warn U.S. and non-U.S. persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage. These risks exist regardless of payment method,” it said.

The U.S. responded to Iran's closure of the strait with a naval blockade of its own on April 13, preventing any Iranian tankers from leaving and depriving Iran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.

The U.S. Central Command said 45 commercial ships have been told to turn around since the blockade began.

The warning came as U.S. President Donald Trump swiftly rejected Iran’s latest proposal to end the war between the countries.

“They want to make a deal, I’m not satisfied with it, so we’ll see what happens,” Trump said Friday at the White House. He didn't elaborate on what he saw as its shortcomings but expressed frustration with the Iranian leadership.

“It’s a very disjointed leadership,” Trump said. “They all want to make a deal, but they’re all messed up.”

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Iran handed over its plan to mediators in Pakistan on Thursday night.

The shaky three-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appears to be holding, though both countries have traded accusations of violations. The standoff is increasingly putting pressure on the global economy, driving up prices and leading to shortages of fuel and other products tied to the oil industry.

Negotiations continued by phone after Trump called off his envoys’ trip to Pakistan last week, the president said. Trump this week floated a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by America’s Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has briefed many of his regional counterparts on the country's initiatives to end the war, according to his social media. He also held talks Friday with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who is in contact with the EU’s Gulf partners.

Iran on Saturday said it hanged two men convicted of spying for Israel.

The Iranian judiciary's news outlet, Mizanonline, identified the men as Yaghoub Karimpour and Nasser Bekrzadeh. It said they were hanged after the country’s Supreme Court upheld earlier death sentences.

The news outlet said Karimpour was accused of sending “sensitive information” to an officer in Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, while Bekrzadeh was alleged to have sent details about government and religious leaders as well as information about Natanz. The central Iranian city is home to a nuclear enrichment facility bombed by Israel and the U.S. last year.

Iran has hanged more than a dozen people over alleged espionage and terrorist activities in recent weeks.

Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, said Friday that maintaining the ceasefire is “the most urgent issue,” as well as bringing together the sides to resume good faith negotiations “to make sure that the ground is laid for reopening of Hormuz.”

Foreign Minister Wang Yi “has been on the phone almost constantly” with representatives from all sides, Fu said, adding that China supports Pakistan’s efforts to mediate between the parties.

Fu stressed the root cause of the tremendous suffering in Iran and neighboring countries and the growing turmoil in the global economy, especially in developing countries, “is the illegitimate war by the U.S. and Israel.”

Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in Washington, Nasser Karimi in Tehran and Edith Lederer at the U.N. contributed to this report

A tanker, left, and a car carrier are anchored at sea in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from the coast near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Friday, May 1, 2026.(AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Cargo ships are seen at sea near the Strait of Hormuz, as viewed from a rocky shoreline near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Men gather along the shore, some crouching and watching a game, as a mix of bulk carriers, cargo ships, and service vessels line the horizon in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, April 27, 2026.(Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)

A man stands in the water, appearing to fish, as bulk carriers, cargo ships, and service vessels line the horizon in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, April 27, 2026.(Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)

An Emirati patrol boat, left, is near a tanker anchored in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from a coastal road near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)