By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter

Samsung Electronics has developed the world's thinnest stack-based NAND flash memory chip.

Samsung said the development will serve as a foundation to strengthen its portfolios in high-density multimedia handsets and advanced consumer products as the chip is to be used in solid-state disk (SSD) storage systems.

Samsung is delving into SSD-based products as the technological landscape in storage applications has been rapidly shifting to SSDs.

Based on traditional NAND flash chips, the hard drive offers a dramatically improved reading speed, enhanced durability and lower power consumption, threatening hard disk drives (HDDs).

The new technological approach manages to fit 32-gigabytes of memory into a single chip that measures just 0.6mm, or 0.02 inches, in width through the use of extra-thin, "bare" packages that are twice as thin but just as sturdy.

"Combined with a 30-nanometer assembly process, the chips are both 40 percent thinner and lighter and should lead to thinner smartphones, laptops and other devices," Samsung spokesman Kim Choon-gon said Wednesday.

Kim, however, added the company hasn't decided yet when it will churn out the chips and who will be the customers, though market watchers say Apple is considering buying the chips for its iPods and iPhones.

"We will provide the flash memory chips upon market needs," according to the official.

In consumer electronics, weight is one of the top considerations when consumers buy new gadgets.

Chipmakers are busy developing thinner and higher-density chips to lower the weight of consumer products such as phones and MP3 players.

Regarding memory cards with densities of 2GB or higher, market research firm iSuppli says 310 million units are expected to be produced in 2009, 60 percent of total production. That number is projected to grow to 7.7 billion units by 2012, 89 percent of total production.

iSuppli also estimates the portion of memory cards 16GB and higher to be 35 million units this year. The number is expected to reach 530 million units by 2012.

Samsung is the world's second-biggest maker of mobile phones after Nokia of Finland. The Suwon, Gyeonggi Province-based company has been strengthening its flash memory chip-embedded smartphone line-up to tide over the growing consumer appetite for web-browsing functions.

yckim@koreatimes.co.kr