Samsung first to mass produce 16GB NAND flash memory

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd announced that it has become the
first to begin mass producing 16 gigabit (GB) NAND flash, the highest capacity
memory chip now available. The company said it would fabricate the devices in 51
nanometers (nm), the finest process technology to be used in memory mass
production to date.

"In rolling out the densest NAND flash in the world, we are
throwing open the gates to a much wider playing field for flash-driven consumer
electronics," said Jim Elliott, Director-Flash Marketing, Samsung
Semiconductor. "To minimize production costs and improve performance, we
have applied the finest process technology a 'half generation' ahead of the
industry, which is introducing 55nm and higher," he added.

Samsung's 51nm NAND flash chips can be produced 60 percent
more efficiently than those produced with 60nm process technology. Samsung
achieved this new migration milestone just eight months after announcing
production of its 60nm 8GB NAND flash last August.

The new 16GB chip, which has a multi-level cell (MLC) structure,
can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16GBs of memory in a single memory
card. Furthermore, by applying the new process technology, Samsung has
accelerated the chip's read and write speeds by approximately 80 percent over
current MLC data processing speeds.

Samsung will offer an optimized suite of Flash software and
firmware-incorporated storage devices for music phones and MP3 players to
support 4KB pages. It also will provide a multi-plane performance optimization
feature and wear-leveling for improved reliability. Memory cards and MP3
controllers to support the 4KB-page are already available,

Technology migration to 16GB is expected to boost the recent
explosive demand for high-density data storage in high-end music phones and the
phenomenal trend toward user created content (UCC). As the demand for video
content grows stronger by the day, products that feature extended recording time
of high-resolution video footage, including mid-to-high-range digital cameras,
will particularly benefit from the high capacity and performance of 16GB NAND
flash memory.

With support technology in place, demand for 16GB NAND flash
memory is expected to grow rapidly, pushing this new chip into the mainstream
market beginning late this year. Aggregate global sales through 2010 are
estimated to be $21 billion.