Posted on Thursday, May 03 2007 @ 8:25 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
While Samsung is starting 51nm NAND memory production, SanDisk
is planning to go ahead with 56nm NAND production really soon:
In response to the price pressure, SanDisk is gearing up its pace on 56nm NAND flash production. The company has already ramped up volume production of MLC NAND flash at Fab 3 on 56nm. Higher density, including 8Gb and 16Gb chips, will be introduced for 56nm production at the fab. Harari believes that these density of chips will become the majority of bits shipped in the fourth quarter.
Fab 3 is expected to ramp up to a monthly capacity of 150,000 wafers per month by year-end of 2007, which beats the original plan of 135,000 wafers, Harari detailed. Fab 4 is also on the way to contribute to sales with actual sales contribution expected to be seen in the first half of 2008, he added. Besides ramping up 56nm NAND proportion, SanDisk also plans to start 45nm NAND flash in the first half of 2008.
