USA: So far in 2008, the NAND market has not experienced the "Apple effect" seen in previous years, despite the upcoming 3G iPhone (with up to 16GB of storage) and the SSD option for the MacBook Air.

Consumer confidence is low due to the repercussions of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and consumer disposable income is hampered by rising prices at the gas pumps.

These factors are having a dampening effect on consumer electronics sales. Despite slower growth in NAND sales this year, the market can still be characterized as a growth market. NAND unit shipments are expected to reach 3,528.5 million units in 2008 compared to 2,508.6 in 2007. NAND revenues will grow 13 percent in 2008 compared to 25 percent in 2007.

Removable flash applications, such as cards for cell phones, digital cameras and other devices, USB drives, drive the bulk of today's NAND market. NAND growth through 2012 will be driven by the computing segment, such as USB drives, hybrid drives, and solid-state drives going into notebooks, UMPCs, servers, mobile and enterprise storage and data centers.

These markets will drive high gigabyte growth, which will need to be fed by NAND manufacturers. SanDisk/Toshiba, Samsung, Hynix and IMFlash are all racing to conquer 40nm production for the cost advantages it will bring.