The launch of 512Mb PRAM (phase-change RAM) in a MCP (multi-chip package) by Samsung Electronics is unlikely to affect the mainstream position of NOR flash parts in the MCP chip segment, and the current tight supply of NOR flash MCP chips will extend to the third quarter of 2010, according to sources at Taiwan-based memory chipmakers.
The sources said that the PRAM technology is still at its early stage, and it will take some time for handset vendors to adopt the new chips as a replacement option for flash memory in their products. Samsung will have to convince other top-tier handset vendors of the benefits of the technology.
Samsung recently announced it would begin shipping what it claims is the industry's first MCP with PRAM for use in mobile handsets later this quarter. Samsung said its 512Mb PRAM in the MCP is compatible with 40nm-class NOR flash memory, and it expects PRAM to be widely embraced as the successor to NOR flash in consumer electronics designs by 2011.