Samsung, Lexar teaming for 1 Gbit CompactFlash cards - News Flash

Electronic News, Feb 25, 2002 by Peter Brown

SAMSUNG SEMICONDCUTOR INC. WILL ANNOUNCE TODAY that it has started delivering 2Gbit NAND flash memory chips to Lexar Media Inc. in Fremont, Calif., enabling Lexar to produce a lGbit 16X-speed CompactFlash card.

San Jose-based Samsung and Lexar claim this lGbit CompactFlash card will be the highest capacity card available to date when it ships. Samsung has been supplying Lexar with flash memory for several years and this continues the mutual agreement between the two companies.

The flash memory market was $1.2 billion in 2001 and is expected to grow to $4.4 billion by 2003, according to Semico Research. Samsung claims to have 35 percent of that market and says it's the company's fastest growing semiconductor business. Samsung added that it plans to develop an entire flash memory product line covering a range of configurations and densities for a variety of different markets.

"The digital photography marketplace has an insatiable demand for portable storage capacity," said Tom Quinn, Samsung Semiconductor's VP of marketing. "Together, Samsung and Lexar Media will ensure that customers have the high-capacity NAND flash memory components they need for future generations of digital imaging devices."