Storage: The Business Marvell Started InNarrow moat

Marvell began in 1995 selling chips for hard-disk drives, and storage controllers remain a real business: the silicon that manages data flow inside solid-state drives and the controllers used in enterprise storage systems. It is mature, competitive and generates cash without consuming much growth capital.

It has also acquired a second life in the data center. AI training consumes enormous datasets, and the storage tier feeding those clusters needs controllers capable of extraordinary throughput — a requirement that has pulled some of this legacy franchise back toward the growth part of the company, and which appears in Marvell's custom work for hyperscalers as storage controllers designed to order.

The limitation is that storage silicon is a commoditising market with capable competitors and customers — the memory makers themselves — who can integrate the function. Watch whether storage content appears in custom-silicon wins rather than only as standalone products. Custom storage controllers for a hyperscaler are a considerably better business than merchant controllers sold into a price-competitive market. Consumer revenue, where much of this sits, ran near $117 million a quarter¹.