Peter Clarke

EE Times

(09/12/2005 7:42 AM EDT)

LONDON — Chang-Gyu Hwang, president and chief executive officer of the semiconductor business of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., has said the semiconductor industry is entering a “flash rush” era, which will see solid-state memory invigorate and transform electronics.

Hwang, speaking at the announcement of Samsung’s 16-Gbit NAND flash memory, said the semiconductor industry is at a major turning point in the use of memory for data storage and said that advancements in NAND flash would lead to a surge demand and a modern-day “Flash Rush” that is changing the way consumers and businesses use portable computer and electronics technology. “The future of NAND is setting the stage for an irreversible shift in the design of digital end products as NAND becomes the key storage medium for data in virtually any portable form,” said Hwang in a statement. Hwang compared the growing importance of NAND technology for data storage applications to that of the Gold Rush of 1849, which permanently transformed the value and importance of gold around the word almost overnight.

“NAND flash will eventually replace other storage mediums, especially those used in mobile products, creating a ``Flash Rush,`` as NAND continues to register an unprecedented surge in demand as the backbone of the mobile electronics era,” Hwang added.

Hwang predicted that as the industry shifts to NAND flash it would trigger a ripple effect across the electronic industry that would result in increased portability, a wealth of new design choices and much more convergence in digital applications. The advent of 16-Gbit flash memory would be a further spur to the proliferation of NAND as the dominant storage medium in portable digital applications, Samsing said.

In 2002, when Samsung foretold a shift in storage media, market research companies’ forecasts for NAND predicted about $1.7 billion in sales revenues in 2005. Global NAND flash memory revenues are now expected to reach $9.4 billion this year, Samsung said.