AMD's flash cash cow tottering

And that may further prompt speculation that the flash division of AMD might be up for sale, rumours that circulated on Wall Street during the course of last week.

AMD has lost its number two position last year to Samsung Electronics and to Toshiba, largely because sales of NAND flash memory have soared. But Intel still stays on top for the second year running.

However, both Intel and AMD major on NOR flash memory, and while Chipzilla kept its pole position, it only showed growth of 2.6 per cent in 2002. AMD's share, however, slumped by 35 per cent.

AMD's flash partner, Fujitsu, also looks somewhat shaky.

According to senior iSuppli analyst John Cassell, sales of flash at Samsung jumped to $1.2 billion in 2002, a rise of 224.3 per cent from the year before, while Toshiba's rise was less astounding but still no mean deal, with sales jumping by 53.9 per cent to $842 million last year.

The sales of NAND flash are being driven by demand for digicameras and data storage apps, like MP3 players. 2003 will be a better year for flash memory than last year, but there are clear signs that the price of NAND is being eroded by competitive forces and over capacity. µ

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