AMD Pushes for Flash 'Revolution'

[RuffRyders]

AMD Pushes for Flash 'Revolution'

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plans to challenge the NAND flash market dominated by Samsung and Toshiba with a new, hybrid flash memory designed for removable storage.

The "ORNAND" flash, scheduled for an introduction in 2005, will allow AMD to break out of its niche in the NOR flash market—which it shares with Intel Corp.—and compete in the market for flash memory cards. AMD executives disclosed the technology as part of the company's fall analyst meeting Friday at its headquarters here.

With ORNAND, AMD hopes to attach a NAND interface to a NOR chip, allowing popular small-form-factor storage media, such as Secure Digital cards, to be created with AMD's memory.

Bertrand Cambou, chief executive of AMD's Spansion LLC flash-memory joint venture with Fujitsu Ltd., said the company has been in talks with several of the small-form-factor flash card organizations, including the MMC (MultiMedia Card) coalition.

[Source]