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The single NAND chip contains 16.4 billion transistors. It is based on a 50nm process - 20 per smaller than the 60nm process it replaces. Although NAND chips are currently used in a variety of portable devices from mobile phones to MP3 players, a 32Gb memory card built out of the chips can hold around 8,000 MP3 files or 32 hours of DVD-quality movies which could open a whole new market for portable video devices

With NAND flash memory density doubling every twelve months, we should see 32Gbit NANDs this time next year leading to 64Gbyte memory cards and the following year 128Gbyte devices. At this rate of advance, solid-state memory is likely to replace hard disks drives not only in PDAs and notebooks but perhaps in the future desktops and even servers.

Samsung says it will begin shipping the new high capacity NAND chips in 2006 which should appear in memory cards late next year or early 2007.