Samsung Electronics Develops Solid State Disk Using NAND Flash Technology

Business Wire, May 23, 2005

SEOUL, South Korea -- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that it has developed the first Solid State Disk (SSD) based on NAND Flash memory technology.

The NAND-based SSD is a low power, lightweight storage media for notebook PCs, sub-notebook PCs and tablet PCs. Using the industry's highest density 8Gb (Gigabit) NAND Flash, Samsung can build SSDs with a capacity of up to 16GB.

The SSD has a power consumption rate less than five percent of today's hard disk drives (HDDs), enabling next generation mobile PCs to extend their battery life by more than 10 percent. The NAND-based SSD weighs less than half that of a comparably sized HDD.

Free of moving parts, the Samsung SSD memory has minimal noise and heat emission. Moreover, it is a highly reliable storage media that endures exceptionally well in environments with extreme temperatures and humidity, making it suited for industrial and military applications.

The SSD's performance rate exceeds that of a comparably sized HDD by more than 150 percent. The storage disk reads data at 57 MegaBytes per second (MBps) and writes it at 32MBps.

The market leader in global NAND flash memory since 2002, Samsung has invested heavily to achieve double-density growth every year, further driving the market to higher memory densities and more affordable pricing.

To ensure compatibility, SSDs have been designed to look like HDDs from the outside. Samsung has developed a full line up of SSDs: 2.5-inch type SSDs that carry 16 NAND Flash devices of 4Gbit or 8Gbit density for 8GBytes and 16GByte of storage respectively. 1.8-inch type SSDs will also offer 4GBytes or 8GBytes of density.

The 1.8-inch type SSD will be available in August, 2005 for sub-notebook and tablet PCs.

Samsung expects NAND flash applications to expand from current applications in digital still cameras (DSCs), MP3 players, and 3G mobile handsets to mobile and digital consumer appliances, as NAND Flash becomes more widely recognized as a reliable, high-density, data storage medium for the widest range of consumer demands.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2004 parent company sales of US$55.2 billion and net income of US$10.3 billion. Employing approximately 123,000 people in 93 offices in 48 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business and Telecommunication Network Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing brands, Samsung Electronics is the world's largest producer of color monitors, color TVs, memory chips and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.