Intel aims high with NOR flash

TOKYO: Intel Corp., the world's largest chip maker, said on Thursday it aims to extend its recent growth momentum in NOR flash memory to become the No.1 player in 2005, overtaking rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

As part of its drive to excel in the NOR flash market, Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, unveiled an advanced flash memory targeted at consumer electronics products such as flat televisions and digital cameras.

The Intel StrataFlash Embedded Memory, with a capacity of 64 to 512 megabits, will become available this quarter, with a 1 gigabit version set for launch in the second half of 2005.

Flash memories, which have two major subcategories -- NOR-type flash and NAND-type flash -- retain data even after power is turned off, making them an ideal rewriteable memory device for mobile and other electronics products.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. dominates the NAND flash market while Intel and AMD compete neck and neck in the NOR flash market.

In 2004, Intel took 24.5 percent of the $9.3 billion NOR flash market, just behind AMD's 25.9 percent, according to data from research firm iSuppli. But in the third and fourth quarters Intel became the No.1 player, surpassing AMD.

Analysts attributed Intel's success to its aggressive pricing, but Intel Vice President Darin Billerbeck said that is not the whole story.

"I don't consider myself a price leader. I don't drive the pricing in the market down," he said on the sidelines of a company-hosted technology conference in Tokyo.

Billerbeck said average selling prices of Intel flash memories rose in the fourth quarter because it shipped higher-capacity products.

He said Intel will maintain an aggressive stance for further growth in the flash market.

"I'll tell you. I want to be very competitive and I want to win," said Billerbeck, who worked for AMD for seven years as an engineer before joining Intel in 1988.