INTC: Intel Announces NOR Flash Memory Products for Emerging Low-Cost Handset Segment

Intel Corporation today introduced its first NOR flash memory products aimed at the emerging low-cost cell phone segment. The new products have a new pin sharing package to minimize pin count and are configured to work with low-cost, single-chip baseband and RF solutions from leading chipset suppliers. Major handset vendors are expected to start introducing low-cost cell phones based on Intel flash products this quarter.

Intel is introducing these products in response to increasing market demand for low-cost phones. The cell phone industry's GSM Association estimates that only 20 percent of the world's population use cell phones, largely because of cell phone costs.

"We're expanding Intel's proven leadership in NOR flash memory for handsets to the emerging low-cost handset market segment," said Darin Billerbeck, vice president and general manager of Intel's Flash Products Group. "Our handset customers can choose from a comprehensive menu of NOR flash memory products from 32Mb density at the low end to 1Gb density for multi-media cell phones.

"We view the low-cost handset market segment as an ongoing growth opportunity and we have a migration path in place to transition our products from 130nm and 90nm process technology to 65nm process technology in 2007," Billerbeck added.

Intel's products for the low-cost handset market segment feature cost-efficient, lower density NOR flash memory products from 32Mb to 256Mb with optional RAM in a multi-chip package. These products include a common 88-ball QUAD+ package with an address-data multiplexed (A/D Mux) configuration that simplifies the design-in process, enabling faster time-to-market and lower design costs. These memory solutions are expected to evolve to also support the common 107-ball x 16C package with an A/D Mux configuration. To enable accelerated design cycles, Intel offers a portable Low-Cost Handset Design Kit, which includes a design guide, product datasheets and migration guides, at www.intel.com/design/flash/nor/lc_handset/overview.htm. Available in both single-chip and multi-cell packages, the products are sampling to customers now and will be in volume production in the third quarter this year.