Samsung Electronics said Thursday that it started mass producing memory chips based on 20-nanometer class technology. The world's No. 1 memory chipmaker began operating its 16th production line with the world's largest scale in a bid to mass produce flash and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips based on 20-nano class technology, Samsung said in a statement by email.
The new plant, where NAND flash memory will be mainly manufactured, started producing 20-nano class high-speed NAND flash from September, according to the statement. The factory, which can produce more than 10,000 wafers of 12-inch size per month, will mass produce 10-nano NAND flash starting next year.
NAND flash memory refers to chips that store information in portable electronics such as tablet computers and smartphones. Demand for the chips has been fast growing in line with brisk sales of smartphones and table PCs. According market researcher iSuppli, the market for NAND flash memory is forecast to grow from 18.85 billion U.S. dollars last year to 22.95 billion U.S. dollars this year, expanding to 28.63 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.
Meanwhile, the plant started mass production of the DDR3 2- gigabit DRAM chips based on 20-nano class technology from this month for the first time across the globe, Samsung said.
The first production of 20-nano DRAM chips is expected to widen Samsung's lead over its rivals such as Hynix Semiconductor and Elpida Memory. Hynix, the world's biggest chipmaker after Samsung, aimed to produce 20-nano class DRAM chips next year.
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