A specialized global distributor with a unique business model focused on delivering memory solutions of more than 18 different vendors at improved cost, with better availability and high longevity: MEMPHIS Electronic

As digitization is tapping into almost every aspect of our life, semiconductors are playing a critical role in the growth of an ever-growing number of companies and industries. The global semiconductor industry sales totaled $555.9 billion in 2021, the highest-ever annual total and an increase of 26.2 percent. Memory makes up 30 percent of this market, and both are expected to grow significantly over the next five years. Despite this outlook, the semiconductor industry is one of the most volatile markets in the world as it is driven by repeating boom-and-bust cycles. To balance the risk, most distributors have a broad portfolio of different types of semiconductors with maybe two or three manufacturers in each product segment.

MEMPHIS Electronics takes a completely different approach. It focuses on one segment only, memory for industrial and specialty markets. Since memory is a commodity product, some might think this is a foolish business strategy. But with over 30 years in the market, MEMPHIS must be doing something right.

Speaking with Marco Mezger, global head of MEMPHIS Electronic, it becomes clear why this focus is a winning strategy for the distributor.

It is increasingly complex to design embedded solutions with the ever more dependencies that need to be considered. Product designers and purchasers can’t possibly keep up with all the developments in the industry that affect the components they are using. While memory might be a commodity product, it is a component that no design can do without. On the contrary, most embedded designs need more than one memory solution.

This is where MEMPHIS comes in with its focused expertise: The specialist distributor carries products from many different memory manufacturers and helps equipment designers to find the right memory components that meet their needs over the entire life cycle at a stable price and with the required longevity.

In conversation with Marco Mezger, Global Head of MEMPHIS Electronic

Q. What was the motivation behind taking the reign at Memphis Electronic?

MEMPHIS Electronic has a unique business model. No other distributor has the breadth and depth of our portfolio, which consists of the memory products of over 18 different memory manufacturers globally. This means that we have an unmatched understanding of the memory products on the market and can advise manufacturers on the memory solution that best fits their needs in terms of performance, price and availability. In the over 20 years of my experience in this industry, I haven’t come across a company that has a similar focus and expertise. Although I was aware of this when I was working as Global President and COO at MEMPHIS Electronic from 2006 to 2016, I only realized just how unique the company and its business model were after I had left and worked with other companies in the industry. So when I saw the chance to come back and sharpen the focus of MEMPHIS, I just had to take the opportunity.

Q. Can you explain your services in brief?

MEMPHIS offers several different services that help manufacturers manage the life span of their products. We start with design-in consultation services from our experts. They assess the requirements of a customer’s design and can make a vendor-agnostic recommendation of an adequate solution. We even offer configuration services for specific DRAM modules, which can be configured with any DRAM vendor available on the market.

Once a product has been selected, we help with the sampling and testing of the components during our customers’ qualification process.

With our 15 locations worldwide, we also help with the global supply chain and inventory management. In most cases, we qualify memory solutions to qualify second or third-sourced products in case the primary product is discontinued or has supply chain issues.

For many of our customers, a stable and reliable supply of their components is key. So we offer to stock the demand for a set time frame – e.g., one year – in one of our three warehouses in Europe, America, and Asia with guaranteed price stability.

Q. Semiconductor is a difficult market right now, how do you navigate the current turmoil in supply shortage?

We have long-term relationships with the manufacturers in our line card and have contracts in place that secure a certain volume of their production. Another plus is the warehouses that I already mentioned. The fact that we have a large stock of products helps us to navigate supply shortages, and we were able to deliver all the forecasted allocations our customers needed. Furthermore, the memory industry hasn’t been hit as hard as other semiconductor segments, like microcontrollers or power management ICs. In many cases, we were able to source components within eight to 14 weeks, which is an acceptable timeframe in the current situation.

Q. What are the future trends to watch out for in the memory and storage segment?

Memory technology is constantly evolving. We are seeing evolutions of existing technologies with higher densities and smaller form factors, as well as completely new technologies entering the market. While new technologies bring improved benefits to industrial applications, relying on a single supply source is risky, especially for products with a long lifecycle. Furthermore, announcements of new generations of existing memory technologies often indicate that older generations will be discontinued. So it pays off to keep an eye on the market and follow the roadmaps of the memory manufacturers in case last-time buys are needed.

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way?

MEMPHIS Electronic is part of the Neumonda Holding that governs a complete specialty memory portfolio. Part of the Holding is Neumonda Technologies, which owns substantial Intellectual Properties for its revolutionary new application-based system-level Tester and Failure Analysis. With its products, it can validate its memory solutions for specific temperature ranges that exceed the standard tests of memory manufacturers. Soon we will be able to offer this as a service for our customers, which will help them improve the quality of their systems to reach whole new levels. This is especially relevant for complex and diversified applications with high data volumes like Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Edge Computing.

As the semiconductor market is set to grow, the memory market will inevitably benefit from this growth. I believe we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this trend with our expertise, portfolio, and services.

Meet the leader behind MEMPHIS Electronic

Marco Mezger is the Global Head of MEMPHIS Electronic. He is a passionate sales and marketing expert that has built strong expertise in the semiconductor industry and specifically memory technologies. He started his career in IT distribution, but soon moved into the semiconductor industry and held various global senior sales and leadership roles at leading distributors and memory manufacturers in the course of his career.

“We understand the different requirements of the individual industries and the specifications of their technical applications. Our knowledge and experience manifests itself in a truly holistic and customer specific memory recommendation.”