Multi-Chip Packages Raise Accounting Issues for Flash Memory Market Revenue, Web-Feet Research.MONTEREY, Calif. -- Following the close of the fiscal year for Japanese suppliers on March 31, Web-Feet Research (WFR WFR Wilderness First Responder WFR Wafer WFR Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind book) WFR Work Force Reduction WFR Waiting For Reply WFR Worcestershire and Foresters Regiment WFR With Fried Rice ) revised its 2004 Non-Volatile Memory Market Shares report to reflect the final Flash memory market revenue. WFR found the 2004 Flash memory market to be $17.3 billion, nearly 11% higher than the $15.6 billion reported by WSTS WSTS World Semiconductor Trade Statistics WSTS World Sea Trade Service WSTS Weeping Silently to Self (chat) WSTS Women Science Technology and Society WSTS Weapon System Trade Study WSTS White Sands Tracking Station and other market research firms. That variance appears to stem from differences in recognizing the revenue from Flash memory-based Multi-Chip Packages (MCP (1) See Microsoft certification. (2) (MultiChip Package) A chip package that contains two or more chips. It is essentially a multichip module (MCM) that uses a laminated, printed-circuit-board-like substrate (MCM-L) rather than ceramic (MCM-C). ). WFR estimates that Flash memory vendors shipped approximately $5.5 billion of Flash-based MCP components in 2004, which is included in the $17.3 billion Flash market. Flash-based MCP products generally include multiple Flash die and xRAM (SRAM/PSRAM/DRAM) die, bonded together in a single package. Although separating the value of the Flash memory from that of the xRAM is desirable, in practice it is difficult because the vendors do not report shipments to WSTS uniformly. To ensure consistent tabulation tab·u·late tr.v. tab·u·lat·ed, tab·u·lat·ing, tab·u·lates 1. To arrange in tabular form; condense and list. 2. To cut or form with a plane surface. adj. Having a plane surface. of the Flash market, WFR accounts for the entire value of the Flash-based MCP. WFR collects the Flash memory shipment data through the Flash Memory Reporting Association (FMRA FMRA Financial Management Review & Analysis ). Founded in 2000, the 17 FMRA member companies accounted for nearly 99% of the worldwide Flash memory shipments in 2004. Companies reporting to WSTS are asked to divide MCP revenue into its Flash, SRAM See static RAM. SRAM - static random-access memory , and DRAM components. In practice, this rule is not applied consistently by the suppliers, which distorts quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year comparisons. Nevertheless, most market research firms correlate their market numbers with the WSTS results. The difference in the Flash market size reported by WFR and WSTS is due to accounting methodology. WFR believes its method provides a better estimate of the Flash memory market and forecasts the 2005 Flash memory market will grow 11%, reaching $19.2 billion. Most of this growth is driven by the high demand for NAND (Not AND) A Boolean logic operation that is true if any single input is false. Two-input NAND gates are often used as the sole logic element on gate array chips, because all Boolean operations can be created from NAND gates. See flash memory. components and MCP configurations. Data in the accompanying table are excerpts from the 2004 Non-Volatile Memory Market Shares by Vendor report from Web-Feet Research that also includes segmentations for NOR and NAND, Serial NOR, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM) A rewritable memory chip that holds its content without power. Although EEPROMs spawned flash memory, EEPROMs are byte addressable at the write level, whereas flash chips must erase a block of bytes before rewriting. , and others.
2004 Flash memory market vendor ranking
(Million $)
1. Samsung 4,897
2. Spansion 2,411
3. Intel 2,349
4. Toshiba 2,067
5. STMicro 1,196
6. Renesas 865
7. Sharp 801
8. Macronix 393
9. SST 347
10. Hynix 315
11. Others 1,669
Total 17,310
About Web-Feet Research Headquartered in Monterey, California, Web-Feet Research provides business consulting and market research services in the memory and storage markets, with emphasis on Flash memory components, Flash cards and small form factor HDD (Hard Disk Drive) See hard disk and HDD caddy. HDD - hard disk drive for mobile applications. |
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