[The Chosun Ilbo, December 4 2007] Hynix to Start Mass Production of 48-nm Chips

Hynix Semiconductor will start mass-producing NAND-type Flash chips using 48-nanometer (nm) processing technology early next year, the first company in the world to do so. Hynix said Tuesday it has completed development of a 48-nm 16-gigabyte multi-level cell NAND Flash chip and sent samples to global customers. It will start full-scale mass-production of the chip in January. Hynix plans to increase production to between 15,000 and 20,000 units a month in the first quarter next year.

A Hynix spokesman said NAND Flash chips meet a variety of demands, since they are used for both mobile gadgets, like music phones, and for solid state drives, which are emerging as a replacement for hard discs. Hynix next plans to produce 8GB single-level cell chips using the same 48-nm process after the multi-level cell chips.