Flash memory maker Samsung is trying to drive a new kind of disk for PCs.
The company announced Monday that it has developed a "solid-state disk" using flash memory for PCs, which traditionally have used hard drives. The 1.8-inch NAND flash-based disks, which will be available in August, will have a capacity of up to 16GB. The first disks will target sub-notebooks and tablet PCs.
The move to a flash-based disk comes as Samsung, a leader in the flash memory market, tries to double the density of flash memory year by year while driving down cost and increasing the number of markets it can sell flash memory into. The company has been trying to expand the reach of its flash memory business. One target is the consumer electronics market, which is a high-volume but low-margin business. Reaching high densities and volumes of flash memory chips will help to lower costs and make it more feasible to include them in more electronics devices.