Samsung mobile chip offers 8GB storage

The 8GB package comprises four separate 16Gb Flash memory chips

Samsung has unveiled a new chip that will enable a mobile phone to store 8GB of data, the company announced today. 

The world's largest memory chip maker said that the new device can also be used in other mobile products and in memory cards.

The 8GB package comprises four separate 16Gb Flash memory chips stacked one above the other, together with a microcontroller and its firmware.

An earlier Samsung chip, launched in December, achieved the same capacity, but was larger as it was made by stacking eight smaller memory chips. Samsung claims that the new chip is 10-20 per cent smaller than its predecessors.

The company did not release detailed specifications, but photographs suggests that the rectangular chip appears to be roughly similar in size to earlier Samsung Flash chips that are approximately 20mm by 10mm by 1mm.

The new chip also gains a size advantage from Samsung's new 50nm production process, as the previous generation was built using a 60nm process.

The 8GB capacity is sufficient to store 2,000 MP3 songs, 225 minutes of DVD-quality video or "enough map data to implement global positioning system and points of interest for the entire western world", according to Samsung.

Samsung is the world's largest memory chip maker, with approximately 26 per cent of the market by revenue, according to US-based research firm Databeans Inc. Annual Flash memory sales are estimated at close to $20bn.