Samsung Electronics today revealed that they have begun mass-producing 1.8-inch solid-state drives (SSD) at 64GB, claiming to be the largest producer of high-capacity SSDs in the world. Aimed at notebook computers, the new drives challenge traditional hard drive technologies but are still unable to best them in capacity and price, however, that gap is closing in as flash chips have become cheaper and SSDs are now starting to appear in some laptop computers.
Jim Elliot, the Director of Flash Marketing at Samsung Semiconductor said that: "We see sharply increasing interest in SSDs among OEMs worldwide amid a growing push to launch premium SSD-based notebooks, particularly in the ultra-mobile category".
The new 64GB SSD consists of 64 eight Gigabit (Gb) single-level cell flash memory chips. The use of 51nm process technology permits fabrication of much smaller components, with each chip having circuitry 1/2500th the width of a human hair. Samsung's 64GB SSD will be sold to PC makers and not end-users, and will likely appear inside ultra-portable devices within the coming months. The price of the device was not disclosed.
SSDs are increasing in popularity beyond the notebook market, thanks mostly to their reliability, faster data-access times, reduced battery consumption, and faster boot times. It is estimated that the market for SSDs will increase 270 percent between now and 2010 to become the largest growth segment in the NAND flash memory market.