Seoul, Korea, April 24, 2003
hynix Semiconductor Inc. (hynix, www.hynix.com) has announced an important agreement with STMicroelectronics N.V. (ST), one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, to cooperate in the development of NAND flash memories.
The two companies agreed to jointly develop state-of-the-art NAND flash memory technology and products, and establish a long-term supply for these advanced memory products. For hynix, this cooperation signifies that its memory technology and low-cost manufacturing expertise have been recognized by one of the world’s leading semiconductor companies. Both companies will complement and leverage each other’s strengths, including the leading-edge DRAM technology and low-cost production capability of hynix, and the broad system application capability and customer base of ST, in order to most effectively address the ever-growing market demand for NAND flash memory products.
Jointly developed products will be ready for mass production sometime in the second half of this year. The two companies expect that this collaboration will further strengthen their competitive offerings in the memory market. The NAND flash is a non-volatile memory product for high-density data storage applications, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Dataquest estimates that the NAND flash market will reach $2.2 billion level this year and $3.2 billion level by 2005. STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications, thanks to its combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners.
