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Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced the availability of a 64Mb flash memory device designed for use in 2.5G and 3G cellular phones that features enhanced power-saving capabilities to extend battery life, a key concern for handheld manufacturers.
The new product consumes significantly less power than competitors offerings in all modes, including up to 95 percent less power in standby mode, said AMD, the worlds biggest seller of flash memory products and second-largest PC processor maker.
“No other product on the market today delivers the low-power consumption of this device while simultaneously providing the high throughput needed in advanced 2.5G and 3G phones,” said Kevin Plouse, vice president of technical marketing and business development for AMDs Memory Group.
AMD, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is counting on the introduction of new flash memory products to revive sales that have plummeted over the last 18 months because of an industry-wide collapse in demand blamed on a U.S. recession and the slowing deployment of more modern 2.5G and 3G networks overseas.
As a result of falling flash memory sales and weak demand for its PC processors, AMD posted losses of more than $194 million for the first six months of this year.
While the outlook for PC sales remains weak, sales of mobile phones – and flash memory — are expected to rise as more advance networks are rolled out across Europe and Asia.
So-called 2.5G phones, which are already in use in parts of Europe and Japan, and more advanced 3G phones, currently offered only in Japan, are designed to receive and transmit large amounts of data, enabling phone devices to operate as handheld computers. Similar technology is expected to take hold in North America in several years.
To handle the increasing data demands of the new cell phones, manufacturers have had to integrate more robust memory chips into their handhelds, but adding memory increases energy consumption and reduces battery life.
As a result, flash memory makers competing for share in the lucrative cell phone market have moved from emphasizing performance and capacity to touting energy efficiencies.
“Our devices use AMDs advanced and proprietary power management technologies and consume as little as one-twentieth the power of competing devices.”
AMDs new product, the Am29BDS640G, is designed to deliver 1 million program/erase cycles and a minimum 20 years data retention at 125-degrees Celsius. The device is also available in a multi-chip package, which includes the Am29BDS640G and an 8-Mb or 16-Mb SRAM in a single, convenient package.
The Am29BDS640G is priced at $10.75 in 10,000 piece quantities.
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