NAND flash prices to drop in 2011

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Prices of NAND flash will come down considerably in 2011, when major chip suppliers upgrade to 20nm-class processes, say industry operators and observers from China and Taiwan.

They said, during a panel discussion at a cross-strait symposium in Taipei on information industries, that they do not expect solid state drives (SSDs) to gain deep penetration in the PC market till 2011.

The two-day symposium, held on November 24-25, 2009, aimed at exploring the possibilities of developing common technology standards for IT industries in both Taiwan and China.

Those who participated in the cross-strait symposium on information industries included top executives of memory device makers from China and Taiwan, like Condel Technology, JMicron Technology, Silicon Motion Technology, and A-Data Technology.

Among the executives who attended the symposium were Chen Qingfang, vice-president of Potevio Institute of Technology, based in China, and Mark Lai, compliance committee director for the Solid State Drive Alliance (SSDA).

At the cross-strait symposium on information industries, representatives of China’s industry requested companies in both Taiwan and China to develop jointly and standardize SSD specifications. This will help challenge core technologies now controlled by international vendors, the representatives from China said.