NOR flash market sees Numonyx on top

SAN FRANSICO: As if seeing success in its bid to reap to advantage of the problems at its rival Spansion Inc’s offices, Numonyx has got back to numero uno position among NOR flash memory vendors. The second quarter has seen Numonyx seen a systematic growth.

The second quarter saw NOR revenues shoot up to $380 million, up $50 million compared to the first quarter, according to a report by iSuppli. Numonyx held a 34.6 per cent share of the NOR market in the second quarter, iSuppli added.

While Numonyx was riding high, rival company Spansion's revenue saw a dip by $22 million in the second quarter to $376 million. The company’s second quarter NOR market share plummeted to 34.2 per cent. The scene pictures a scene where Spansion and Numonyx have been fight each other. The past five years had been seeing the two fighting it out in the NOR space. Now that the No. 1 position in the NOR flash memory market has gone to Numonyx hands, Numonyx's is all set to stay on top.

According to industry sources, the tussle for top slot between the two NOR flash memory vendors took an interesting turn early this year, when Spansion filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shifted focus to the embedded market segment rather than the wireless market. That left the wireless segment wide open. This situation had led to other NOR players looking to bag additional business in the handset market. Numonyx and South Korea's Samsung Electronics were two among them.