I may be a bit biased, but it’s good to see Idaho making computer news again. The recent announcement by Intel from Santa Clara and Boise-based Micron Technology to form a new company, IM Flash Technologies, is also good news for the computing world. Subject to final agreement, which should be announced by the end of the year, the new company will be focusing on building and distributing NAND technology. IM Flash Technologies, 51% owned by Micron, 49% owned by Intel, has a management team balanced by people from both companies. Apple has already expressed interest in buying a significant percentage of the output, and subject to the agreement, will prepay $250 million each to Intel and Micron.

NAND technology is used in Flash memory and USB Flash cards as well as in MP3 players, cell phones, and other portable devices. The forecasts are that the demand for this new technology will grow, and Intel and Micron’s IM Flash Technologies company will most likely be the best-positioned to take advantage of this growth.