In an effort to stay ahead of the market's demand, INTEL and Micron formed a joint venture with the sole purpose of developing 50nm memory modules using 300mm wafers. As a reminder, the market is dominated by Samsung (46,4% market share) followed by Toshiba (24,7% market share) and Hynix (18,5% market share). IM memory modules will be produced in Manassas, Virginia and Boise, Idaho, but also in the new fab being currently constructed in Lehi, Utah.

At the moment, early 4GB 50nm samples are already being produced and will be released on the second half of 2008, when all fabs will be ready for mass production.

"We are quite pleased with the progress IM Flash Technologies has made in a very short period of time positioning us for future growth in the NAND marketplace. By executing to our strategy of ramping one 300 mm fab per year, we fully expect to become one of the top manufacturers of NAND flash memory" said Brian Harrison, vice president and general manager of Intel's Flash Memory Group.

But don't think for a moment that competition is standing still. Samsung already announced 40nm chips and also planned to launch 20nm chips in the near future. Using 40nm technology, storage could go as high as 32-64GB per flash module.