Company Introduces World’s First Commercial 16-gigabit, 3-Bit-Per-Cell NAND Flash ChipSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, February 6, 2008 – Reaching a new threshold in the development of flash memory, SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) today announced that it expects to start mass production of the world’s first commercial three-bit-per-cell (x3) NAND flash memory in March/April 2008. The 16-gigabit (Gb) x3 NAND flash employs SanDisk’s standard 56 nanometer (nm) flash technology and provides over 20 percent more die per wafer compared to standard NAND Multi-Level Cell (MLC) memory (2-bits-per-cell) on the same technology node. x3 enables higher manufacturing efficiency and lower die cost for the same capital investment. The new x3 flash architecture has been in development for the past two years and employs SanDisk’s most advanced patented design innovations to achieve the same performance and high reliability found in SanDisk’s 2-bits-per-cell chips. [Read more…]