By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
MTRON Storage Technology, a local manufacturer of solid state-drive (SSDs), confirmed Sunday that it will supply SSD products to Hynix Semiconductor.
``We will start shipping 2.5-inch 32GB and 64GB SSD products to Hynix Semiconductor from July with an original design manufacturer initially,’’ a MTRON spokesperson said.
``MTRON and Hynix have already finished sample tests and there is a no problem to massively churn out products,’’ according to the official.
In April, Steve Jeon, chief executive of MTRON said in an interview with The Korea Times that his company was engaging in detailed talks with Hynix to boost mutual tie-ups.
MTRON has an edge in making controllers of SSDs. Controllers help manage the read and write cycles, error correction and other functions of SSDs.
Although prices have been regarded as a major drawback hampering the early domination of the advanced device, manufacturers of SSD controllers such as MTRON are drawing attention as compatibility between NAND flash chips and controllers is the key to easing concerns over the NAND flash chip-based storage device.
Samsung Electronics, Intel, Toshiba and even Micron Technology of the United States are developing controllers internally to be fitted for SSD performances.
MTRON has been boosting strategic partnerships with Toshiba and Hynix, the world’s No. 2 and No. 3 NAND flash chipmakers, respectively, as the technological landscape in storage applications is rapidly shifting to SSDs from traditional hard disk drives due to power consumption and data processing speed.