Samsung Electronics has released a statement saying it has successfully developed a new generation of 4MB ferrous random access memory (FRAM) semiconductors. It said the FRAM chips combine the most outstanding characteristics of flash memory and static RAM but had until now been limited by low storage capacity. At present, only a handful of companies, including Ramtron of the US and ROM of Japan, have the technology to design and produce FRAM chips but they are limited to 256 KB, according to the statement.
The acquisition of the technology for large-capacity FRAM chips means that Samsung is ahead of the closest competition by up to two years, a Samsung official said. The capacity of the chips opens up a whole new market for FRAMs, he said, with applications including cellular terminals and smart phones. The statement estimated the market for FRAMs will grow to $15bn by 2005.
