Taiwan-based NOR flash suppliers Macronix International and Winbond Electronics have begun rolling out low-density single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash chips in meaningful volumes, according to industry sources.

　　The global NAND flash market has been dominated by the top-four players – Samsung Electronics (40%), Toshiba (25%), Micron Technology (15%) and SK Hynix (12%), the sources noted, citing data from market research firms.

　　However, the top-four vendors have been focusing on production of high-density NAND flash chips mainly for eMMC and SSD applications, leaving the low-density parts for Macronix and Winbond to develop, the sources said.

　　Macronix is offering NAND flash chips built using its 36nm technology developed in house and plans to place more capacity at 12-inch fabs in the second half of 2014, eyeing the market potential in the telematics sector, indicated the sources.

　　Meanwhile, fellow company Powerchip Technology has been offering NAND flash chips built using technology from Renesas Electronics, added the sources.