SanDisk Introduces Industry's Highest Capacity Products Based on New 80 Megabit Double Density Flash Technology

Business Wire, June 16, 1998

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 1998--

Removable Flash PC Cards Increase To 500 Megabytes Of Capacity; Flash Chipsets Increase To 20 Megabytes For Embedded Applications; Flash Prices Reduced 20 Percent Per Megabyte

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today significantly increased the storage capacity of its removable flash memory cards and embedded flash devices with the introduction of a product line based on its new 80 megabit (Mbit) double density technology.

The introduction gives SanDisk the industry's highest capacity products in Type II and Type III PC flash cards, CompactFlash(TM) (CF(TM)) cards, 1.8", 2.5" and 3.5" flashdrives and flash chipsets. The announcement also will result in substantially lower flash prices because SanDisk's double density technology essentially doubles the capacity of flash storage products by storing two bits of information in each flash cell instead of the traditional one bit of data. SanDisk's flash memory prices are being reduced by approximately 20 percent per megabyte with double density flash.

SanDisk will start to sample the products in July and will go into full production in the third quarter of this year.

Nelson Chan, SanDisk vice president of marketing, said, "This is a very significant announcement for SanDisk because we are combining our ability to cut costs while at the same time significantly increasing capacity. We were the first company to ship double density (also known as multi-state or multi-level) flash products and today we are one of only two companies with such products on the market."

SanDisk's Type II PC cards, by far the most popular size PC cards today, increase from 220 megabytes (MB) to 280MB while its Type III PC memory cards more than double in capacity from 220MB to 500MB. The top capacity of SanDisk's CompactFlash cards rises from 48MB to 60MB. SanDisk's 1.8" embedded flashdrives, formerly at 140MB for a top capacity, now have a capacity of 240MB. SanDisk's new 2.5" and 3.5" flashdrives debut with a top capacity of 500MB. The double density flash also will be offered in several lower capacities across all of the different product types. All SanDisk double density products operate at either 3.3 or 5 volts, and SanDisk is the only company that has double density products operating at 3.3 volts.

By combining two 80 megabit die in one package, SanDisk can now offer 20MB in a flash chipset for embedded applications.

This is SanDisk's second generation of flash products based on double density technology. In moving from first to second generation, SanDisk doubled the write speed to 100 kilobytes per second and the read speed to 1.8 megabytes per second. (SanDisk's standard, or non double density, products differ from its double density devices in that they have higher write performance but lower capacity.) Given those performance ratings, the 60MB CompactFlash can be used for numerous applications such as handheld computers, industrial computers, audio recorders and medical monitors but is not suitable for digital camera applications.

SanDisk's pricing, in high volume OEM quantities, for the high capacity products: 280MB Type II, $1095; 500MB Type III, $1995; 60MB CompactFlash, $199; 240MB 1.8" flashdrive, $995; 500MB 2.5" flashdrive, $1995; 500MB 3.5" flashdrive, $1995; 20MB flash chipset, $59.

SanDisk Corporation, the world's largest supplier of flash data storage products, designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, digital imaging and audio storage products using its patented, high density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is based in Sunnyvale.

The matters discussed in this news release contain forward looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties as described under the caption "Risk Factors" in the company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.

Note To Editors: CompactFlash is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation. SanDisk's web site/home page address: http://www.sandisk.com

   CONTACT: SanDisk Corporation
             Nelson Chan, 408/542-0456
             nchan@sandisk.com
             Bob Goligoski, 408/542-0463
             bgoligoski@sandisk.com