Samsung producing large capacity memory for mobile applications

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is now mass producing a large-capacity multi-chip package (MCP). The new 2.5Gb (gigabits) MCP will enable multimedia-intensive mobile phones, especially 3G phones, to have at least 320MB (megabytes), a memory level more likely to be found in desktop computers.

Samsung's new 2.5Gb MCP consists of four dies: a stack of two 1Gb (gigabits) NAND flash memory chips and two 256Mb (megabits) mobile DRAMs. The new MCP operates on only 1.8 volts and is capable of storing up to four hours of high-quality (QVGA) video data.

As mobile phones become slimmer and lighter, their increasing functionality continues to become more sophisticated and diverse. Today's handset designs must be able to support multimedia, including digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB). This requires higher capacity memory, particularly that afforded by multiple chip package designs.

Samsung expects the new 2.5Gb MCP will also help accelerate the introduction of smaller, more versatile 3G mobile phones. The market research firm iSuppli predicts that the market for 3G mobile phones will grow an average of 78% a year through 2008, when 240 million units will be sold worldwide.