Samsung's Flash Memory

Samsung Electronics Co. introduced a high-capacity flash memory chip on
Monday that could let Apple Computer Inc. and other makers of portable
electronic devices pack more data into less failure-prone gadgets. The 16
-gigabit NAND flash memory chip, equivalent to 2 gigabytes of storage,
doubles a chip Samsung introduced last September.

The new chip will allow memory-card makers to design cards with a
capacity of 32GB by putting 16 of these chips into a single card. To put it
into perspective, a 32GB memory card would be able to store 8000 MP3
audio files or 20 DVD-quality movies in a handheld device such as a
mobile phone.

Samsung hopes to see flash memory become more widely used as a
storage medium, including as a replacement for hard disk drives in some
notebook computers. To this end, it announced plans earlier this year to
introduce a flash-based replacement for hard drives named solid-state
disks (SSDs). These hard drive replacements will initially be available in
capacities up to 16GB, according to the company.