Intel braces for Flash memory boom

Intel is gearing up for a large rise in demand for Flash memory, due in part to the growth in mobile phone functions.

As sales of cameraphones take off, manufacturers need more built-in Flash memory to handle pictures and video. The company's memory is already used in the top five selling phones in Japan.

"This is not just smartphone growth, but across the [board]," said Peter Van Deventer, Intel's Flash products group director.

"In Europe growth will be steady but there is still significant growth potential in the Far East. A lot of that market is covered by second-hand phones, but as affluence increases people want a new phone."

In the longer term increased use of Flash/Ram multi-chip packages will drive growth further.

Intel will also be introducing technology normally seen in desktop systems, like hyper-threading which allows multiple processes to be carried out simultaneously.

"The cameraphone market is important but pretty much any consumer device is going to be using a lot more Flash," said Andy Buss, senior analyst at Canalys.

"MP3 players are a good example. You could replace the standard hard drive on large players with Flash. Digital cameras and the like will also benefit."