Samsung to hit mobile-memory milestone

Samsung Electronics said it has started to mass produce 512MB DRAM (dynamic random access memory) for mobile products using 90-nanometer circuitry--a first for the company. The memory was developed to meet an increasing demand of 3D graphic images on mobile phones and 5-megapixel and higher-resolution camera phones, the company said. Samsung aims to double its annual sales in the next five years, executives proclaimed earlier this month.

The world's top memory chipmaker and third-largest mobile-phone producer expects its handset sales to grow up to 20 percent to 120 million phones in 2006 but maintain its average selling prices. The number of mobile phones shipped worldwide will grow an average of 9 percent per year between 2005 and 2010, according to Gartner Dataquest. Demand for mobile DRAM is expected to expand an average of 114 percent annually over the same period.