Samsung Declares Global “Flashtopia” with Introduction of New Generation of NAND Flash

(Auszug aus der Pressemitteilung)

Seoul, Korea – September 11, 2006 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the

world leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today
announced major component technology advancements including the
40-nanometer (nm) 32-Gigabit (Gb) NAND flash, the first prototype of the
next-generation of memory – PRAM (Phase change Random Access Memory),
and a new System-on-Chip controller for the soon-to-be-released Hybrid
Hard Disk Drive.

“The phenomenal shift in the popularity of digital products that we are
experiencing today is rooted in the virtually non-stop string of
advances being seen in semiconductor technology,” said Dr. Chang Gyu
Hwang, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor Business,
at the sixth annual press conference held at the Shilla Hotel in
downtown Seoul, Korea. “Anchored by major developments in NAND flash
memory as today’s key storage medium, digital technologies are rapidly
converging to create a massive wealth of new capabilities and further
convenience, representing the beginning of a new era — Flashtopia.”

Samsung anticipates flash technology to continue to enable a new world
of digital performance where consumers can affordably take whatever
amounts of entertainment and informational data they want to wherever
they want to go. As the world moves toward greater globalization and
more universal dissemination of information, Dr. Hwang said providing
the convenience of added portability through a broad diversity of
flash-driven mobile applications will bring about a new utopia of
storage-based freedom, which Samsung is referring to as Flashtopia.
Highlighting the conference, Samsung introduced the world’s first NAND
flash memory incorporating a revolutionary new ‘Charge Trap Flash’ (CTF)
technology.
“The new CTF technology, ” Dr. Hwang said, “will extend the life span
of NAND flash well beyond 40-nm level of manufacturing process
technology, allowing for greater product miniaturization and greater
economies of scale in the production of consumer electronics.”

Following the ‘New Memory Growth Theory’, which Samsung’s Dr. Hwang
first predicted in a keynote at ISSCC in 2002, the 40nm CTF-based NAND
flash memory represents a seventh generation of the New Memory Growth
Theory, which has memory density doubling every twelve months. Samsung
expects CTF-based NAND eventually to be refined down to 20nm at the 256
Gigabit-level.
NAND flash has been the data storage device in virtually all digital
cameras, USB drives and MP3players, as well as most multimedia handsets
and smart phones. This year, NAND flash also is entering the PC
computing environment. Samsung launched the first solid-state-disk (SSD)
notebooks, called SENS Q3-SSD and SENS Q1-SSD in June. Their higher
performance, lighter weight and enhanced storage reliability are key
factors attracting mobile developers to NAND flash.
At the conference, Samsung also announced development of a System
-on-Chip controller for the Hybrid drive. The new SoC represents the
diversity of advanced core technologies Samsung provides.

The tremendous advancements in storage technology have spurred
previously unthinkable levels of growth with much more to come. What
used to be a 200-million-units-a-year PC-driven industry has become a
one-billion-units-per-year mobile-driven industry. As a pivotal
market-driving force, flash storage is evolving further within the
digital consumer space and in professional fields such as biotechnology.