Under the terms of the agreement, STMicro of Geneva and Hynix of Seoul will jointly develop and introduce a full NAND product portfolio, beginning with a 512-megabit device to be introduced in the second half of 2003. The products will be marketed by both companies.

NAND-based flash devices are specifically optimized for sequential access, while the NOR-oriented are ideal for direct execution of program code.

Historically, NOR devices have dominated the flash market and accounted for about three-quarters of the $8 billion business in 2002, according to STMicro, the world's fourth largest supplier of NOR devices. However, the NAND market today is growing at a faster rate, fueled by the increasing demand for mobile multimedia features.

"So far, ST has focused on NOR flash, the largest segment of the market, where we have become one the world leaders both in technology and market share. It is now the right time for us to expand our flash portfolio with NAND devices to address the fast growing demand for low-cost, high-density data storage," said Mario Licciardello, STMicro's Flash Memories Division General Manager, in a statement.

By: DocMemory
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