Samsung Electronics Co. announced Monday that it has developed an 8-gigabyte NAND-type flash memory chip with a 60-nano design rule.

The company also made an announcement that it has developed the world's first 2-gigabyte double-data-rate dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip with an 80-nano design rule.

Hwang Chang-gyu, President of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor division, said, "So-called fusion memory will be a growth engine for the company in the memory and system LSI markets."

The success in the use of 80-nano technology for new DDR DRAM chip development is a breakthrough in the semiconductor industry, which views technology on a scale of 65 nanometers or less as the core of 2-gigabyte DRAM production.

Hwang expressed optimism that the company will sell more DRAMs than expected this year because of a pick-up in memory-chip prices in the fourth quarter, adding that global sales of NAND-type flash memory chips will double in 2005 to 1.8 billion units from 900 million units this year.

From Maekyung