Apr. 23, 2008 - Taiwan's Macronix plans to push into NOR flash for handsets within the next three years, placing it in direct competition with Spansion and Numonyx, according to a local report.
The handset market "still has great potential" and "could be a next growth driver" for the company, according to Digitimes, citing comments from company chairman Miin Wu at a recent investors conference.
Macronix also projects Mask ROM shipments will grow in 2Q08 but sales will stay flat as ASPs for chips decline ~10%-15% sequentially. About 80% of these chips produced in 1H08 will be on 100nm processes, with 75nm becoming prevalent later in the year. Wu added that trial production of a 4Gb XtraROM will start in the current quarter.
Macronix days ago terminated a flash memory development/licensing deal with Qimonda, which is focusing on new buried wordline DRAM technology with Winbond.