LEHI — Commuters traveling the Alpine Highway in Lehi this week may have noticed that the Micron sign is gone, replaced by one reading IM Flash Technologies.

Micron, however, is still operating the facility. The name change is related to a new operation at the Lehi campus — a joint venture between Micron and Intel, which will manufacture flash memory cards for digital devices like portable music players and digital cameras.

All 500 Micron employees working at the plant will retain their jobs, and Micron officials say the new company could create many more jobs at the facility in the future.

"It could translate into hundreds of jobs, but we haven't been more specific because we have to get it up and running and see what happens," Micron spokesman Daniel Francisco said.

The IM Flash Technologies venture was announced in November, and the deal to officially create it was finalized Monday.

"For several years now, we've been pursuing a product diversification strategy," Francisco said. "To increase company value, we've tried to diversify our product line."

The new company will create NAND flash memory, which are used in digital music players, memory sticks for digital cameras and cell phones. Demand for NAND memory is forecast to experience explosive growth over the next year, bolstered primarily by the sale of Apple iPods.

NAND is the logic program on which the memory chips function, which draws its name from a combination of the words "not" and "and." NAND chips do not require a constant electrical current to operate, making them ideal for portable electronic devices.

The new venture, Francisco said, will allow both companies to keep up with the demand for NAND. Apple has already signed separate, long-term deals with Micron and Intel for the companies to provide it with a significant proportion of its NAND flash memory for iPods. Each deal is worth $250 million.

Micron and Intel have each invested $1.2 billion in the new venture so far, and each company plans to invest an additional $1.4 billion over the next three years.

Majority ownership of IM Flash Technologies rests with Micron, which owns 51 percent of the company to Intel's 49 percent. Micron will be responsible for manufacturing the chips at its facilities in Boise, Idaho; Manassas, Va.; and Lehi.

Francisco said the Boise facility, which also houses Micron headquarters, will begin leasing capacity to IM Flash Technologies in the first half of this year, while the Manassas facility will begin dedicating workers to the company in the later part of the year.

Lehi is expected to come online for the new venture in the first part of 2007. Lehi's role in the venture and the number of new jobs created won't be clear until that time draws closer, Francisco said.

"It's something we'll work out over the next year," he said. "We just finished the customary closing procedures and we'll be moving ahead now."

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