Samsung has started mass-production of 4Gb NAND flash memory using 70-nanometer technology. Using the highest density in the market, 4Gb NAND flash will be produced from Samsung's 300 mm wafer production line as from next month. Many improvements have been made in efficiency; the 300 mm wafers (which are large plates from which individual chips and circuits are cut) are 2.25 times more productive than the former 200 mm types. Additionally, the 70-nanometer technology has a 65 percent advantage over the older 90-nanometer technology.
NAND flash is the most popular digital storage for mobile devices such as cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, memory cards, USB memory and game systems. This year the market is expected to be worth $8 billion, growing to $13 billion by 2008. According to Dataquest, Samsung Electronics held a leading 44.4 percent share of the NAND flash market in 2002, and 54 percent last year.