Word on the street is that Micron is seeking to enter the NOR flash market. Some also speculated that Intel Corp. wants to unload its interest in Numonyx.

Could that mean a Micron-Numonyx merger? It's pure speculation for now. A spokesman for Micron declined to comment, saying the company does not comment on rumors. A spokesman for Numonyx declined to comment and said: ''Numonyx doesn't comment on speculation or rumors.''

Micron has some ''interest'' in entering the NOR market, said Dinesh Moorjani, an analyst at Broadpoint.AmTech. ''I would not be surprised if (Micron) is looking at Numonyx,'' he said, but such a deal ''doesn't make sense.''

For one, Micron could take a hit on the balance sheet. On the other hand, Micron may want a NOR play. At one time, in fact, Micron was also looking at NOR rival Spansion Inc.

Perhaps Intel is looking to be the broker in a potential deal between Micron and Numonyx. Intel owns a large stake in Numonyx.

''If I look at Intel's investment strategy, Numonyx is reaching a point where Intel is seeking an exit strategy,'' said Doug Freedman, analyst for Broadpoint AmTech.

Strangely, for some time, Intel has been backing two flash ventures: Numonyx and IM Flash Technologies LLC. IM Flash is a joint NAND partnership between Intel and Micron.

Formed last year, Numonyx is the memory spin-off of Intel and STMicroelectronics. STMicroelectronics holds a 49 percent stake in Numonyx, Intel has 45 percent and Francisco Partners owns 6 percent. The new venture is selling NOR, NAND and phase-change memory, based on technology from Ovonyx Inc.

And to some degree, SSDs were also supposed to displace hard drives. Now, the technology is receiving its share of criticism. First, a technologist was recently critical of SSDs for servers, saying the emerging technology is still too expensive.

And there could be another blow for SSDs. Intel Corp.'s upcoming Braidwood technology is ''likely to stifle SSD acceptance,'' according to Objective Analysis (Los Gatos, Calif.), a research firm.

Braidwood is another attempt to put NAND on the motherboard. Braidwood is a flash memory technology said to provide faster boot-up times. It will be incorporated with Intel's future "5 Series" chipset family.

Intel and Microsoft have tried to put flash on the motherboard for similar reasons, but have basically failed in those attempts. Intel's ill-fated effort was called Turbo Memory.

Braidwood, however, could be the right formula. PC purchasers who were considering an SSD upgrade will find NAND on the motherboard to be a cheaper alternative with nearly all the same benefits, according to Objective Analysis.

"NAND has a role in the PC platform and Braidwood promises to be the right implementation at the right time," said Jim Handy, an analyst with the firm, in a report. "Although this isn't the first time that Intel has tried to bring NAND into the PC, the earlier Turbo Memory product failed for a number of reasons."

In the report, Handy explains why Braidwood technology works and why it is likely to meet with rapid acceptance. It will also explain ''how and why NAND on the motherboard will impact the SSD and DRAM markets.''

Ironically, Intel and many others are shipping SSDs. Intel is shipping NAND flash SSDs based on 34-nanometer (nm) process technology, an industry first, according to the company. Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.) said the move to 34-nm would help lower prices of the SSDs up to 60 percent for PC and laptop makers and consumers who buy them due to the reduced die size and advanced engineering design.