I Visited Lexar in China to Discover Out Whether or not Photographers Can Belief Its Reminiscence Cards

When it involves reminiscence playing cards, most photographers simply need them to work, have blistering specs, and be form to their pockets. But which model to decide on? Last week PetaPixel took a visit to China to test in with one of many foremost gamers, Lexar.

Lexar, based in San Jose, California, 30 years in the past in 1996, was offered by Micron to Chinese conglomerate Longsys in 2017. Many puzzled whether or not this large transfer would injury the model or enhance it.

Disclosure: Lexar supplied PetaPixel with journey and lodging for the needs of this text. It had no enter on content material and all opinions shared are these of PetaPixel.

In an act of excellent religion, Lexar invited tech media to go searching its services in Suzhou, which is close to Shanghai, and Zhongshan, close to Shenzhen — China’s reply to Silicon Valley.

Fully opened in 2024, the Zhongshan campus, which additionally homes different Longsys reminiscence manufacturers, is a smooth, sprawling location that options buildings with facades completed to appear like SD playing cards. It boasts a reminiscence museum, a koi carp pond, a soccer pitch, and machines — tons and plenty of machines.

“This one costs 30 million RMB [$4.4 million],” a tour information proudly says. Some of the machines have been researched, designed, and constructed by Lexar itself. There are little ones, large ones, medium-sized ones; most of them are in circumstances; staff in hazmat fits flit between them, marking down notes and consulting colleagues.

But what do the machines do precisely? Well, it’s primarily testing. The complete setup pushes CFExpress Cards, SD Cards, and SSDs to their absolute restrict, testing the storage options in excessive chilly in addition to excessive warmth. There’s even a delegated drop check for the Calamity Janes on the market.

While the machines are largely coated in Zhongshan, 750 miles northeast on the Longsys manufacturing unit in Suzhou, the method is less complicated to see. Suzhou is the place the analysis and improvement takes place, and the assembled tour group of a dozen or so worldwide journalists peer right into a microscope that enables a close-up view of a frenetic needle that’s gold-wiring. It’s mesmerizing.

Also on the tour of Suzhou, I get to carry a wafer of silicon that had come from an ingot and pose for an image taken by a gifted photographer working for Lexar.

It offers you pause for thought: the uncooked semiconductor materials that I maintain in my hand has completely modified humanity due to its capability to retailer information. The wafer can be extraordinarily worthwhile because the AI growth calls for an increasing number of of the stuff — Lexar won’t be drawn on the scarcity and potential worth will increase brought on by it.

The silicon wafer itself is diced into particular person dies, form of like a pizza. The die is then bonded to a substrate (the foundational layer), gold-wired, soldered for electrical connection, minimize into strips, examined, packaged, after which popped right into a photographer’s digital camera.

A single die is 30 microns thick, half that of a sheet of paper. There are 16 dies in every microSD card. It’s fairly exceptional simply how a lot work goes into one of many least horny elements of a digital camera. But with out it, we’d nonetheless be taking pictures movie.

Back in Zhongshan, the testing isn’t simply confined to machines: the information takes us into an workplace that has nearly each digital camera you possibly can consider, so the workforce can test that these playing cards falling off the meeting line work in real-world conditions.

Sitting at a desk, a targeted younger girl is absorbed in a job that entails dozens of cameras stacked in entrance of her, all of that are taking pictures images or video repeatedly. Next to her is a tray of various batteries to maintain them alive so she will be able to zone in on the cardboard’s efficiency. She retains notes and is clearly working her manner via the required protocols. I puzzled which digital camera was her favourite, however I dared not interrupt her from her mission.

As I toured the manufacturing unit in Zhongshan, sipping on coconut water, it was plain simply how a lot work was happening. Lexar says that sure merchandise get 10,000 hours of testing — the identical period of time it theoretically takes to grasp any endeavor.

In current years, Lexar has introduced all the pieces in-house. “We’ve invested more than 70% year on year on just our internal R&D,” General Manager of Lexar North America Van Baer tells PetaPixel. “We emphasize our in-house manufacturing, ensuring world-class quality control to ensure that every product that we make is error-free.”

Choosing a reminiscence card is usually a tough job, particularly when you’re simply beginning in your pictures journey. Rookie shooters will go online to Reddit for recommendation and examine one one that had a foul expertise with Lexar years in the past. But my go to to China satisfied me that the corporate is doing all the pieces it may to make sure high quality.

I used to be utilizing a SanDisk card in my digital camera as I toured the services — a lot to the chagrin of Lexar employees. On my manner out of China, Lexar was form sufficient to move me one in all its microSD playing cards. After seeing the work they do right here, I’m completely happy to belief it with my information.

Image credit: Photographs by Matt Growcoot. Except for those from Longforce Production Line in Suzhou, that are courtesy of Lexar.