I guess that depends on how you define "leader"...
---One definition might be having the leading process technology.....
The first 0.13-micron flash memory. infosatellite.com;
---Also, EE Times Certainly seems to think intel is the Flash leader.
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000906S0035
STMicro is following Intel Corp. into multi-level cell technology. Intel, the flash memory market leader, has offered a multi-level cell (MLC) technology called Strataflash since 1998.
---And EVEN IF, they weren't a leader before, as this article suggests, the industry seems to agree that they're one now.
http://news.com.com/2009-1040-257837.html?legacy=cnet
Intel is not among the leaders today, except for being a major supplier of flash memory in mobile handsets. However, with this announcement, Intel has become virtually the only chipmaker to offer a process that integrates microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP), analog capabilities and high-complexity flash memory into a single chip. Few companies own all those technologies--let alone are able to incorporate them all in a single manufacturing process.
---Looks like leadership to me. Oh by the way, if you were about to mention this:
However, Intel's chip does not offer the only reasonable approach to putting more processing power in the same space. For example, Texas Instruments, today's leader in supplying mobile baseband solutions, handles three of the four components--microprocessors, DSPs and analog capabilities. Through an agreement with Advanced Micro Devices, TI physically integrates AMD's flash chips into its mobile multimedia solution, called OMAP (Open Multimedia Applications Platform), by a technique called "stacking." With stacking, a handset manufacturer could design a chip stack in which the AMD flash memory sits directly on top of TI's microprocessor/DSP.
---Stacked chips? Got those too: intel.com
TI's approach does not seem as elegant as Intel's, but good marketing could make the difference. The real question is not which chipmaker has the best technology and engineering, but which will do a better job of convincing customers that its approach is better.
---Marketing..... Hummmmm..... Wonder who's got the lead there...
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