Samsung has launched a new $10 billion mass production line of 20nm flash memory
chips. This is reportedly the first time Samsung has opened up a new
memory production line in the past five years. The new line, the
company’s 16th such facility, is also its largest memory production
facility till date, and Samsung calls it the industry’s most advanced
memory fabrication unit.
Analysts feel the resultant flood of new, cheaper 20nm NAND flash and DRAM chips could sharply drop prices, as well as possibly
choke out most smaller manufacturers. Samsung, currently the largest
manufacturer of DRAM and NAND flash memory in the world, is also
currently locked in a patent war with Apple, the largest buyer of flash
memory in the world. If the tussle results in Apple stopping its Samsung
memory purchases, the Korean giant will have to look to other major
buyers to sell their chips.
Samsung’s competitors are still a long
way off from production of the cheaper, 20nm flash memory chips, with
Hynix Semiconductor and Elipida Memory, number two and three in the
world – only starting lines next year. Samsung in the meanwhile has
announced it intends to start 10nm NAND flash memory production by next year.
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