Toshiba preps 2GB NAND flash memory chips

Toshiba will begin selling in April NAND flash memory chips capable of holding up to 2GB of data, the company said Wednesday.

Availability of the chips should mean that higher capacity flash memory cards are on the horizon. That's because the capacity of such cards, which are commonly used in digital cameras, music players, and a myriad of other gadgets, are limited by the number of chips that can be physically crammed inside. Being able to store more data inside each individual chip allows for a jump in card capacity without any space concerns.

The new chips and ones than can hold 1GB of data were first made available to Toshiba's customers late last year as engineering samples. Commercial samples will come in March and then in chips suitable for use in commercial cards will be available from April, said Hiroko Mochida, a spokeswoman for Toshiba in Tokyo.

The chips are the highest capacity yet available from any manufacturer, according to Toshiba, and are based on a new production process developed by the Japanese company and its partner SanDisk. The 56-nanometer production process achieves double the memory density over the current 70-nanometer process used by Toshiba.

Samples of the 2GB will cost ¥3,800 ($31) per chip.