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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: slacker711 who wrote (33411)	9/12/2006 10:56:51 AM
From: inaflash	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

They seem to be catching-up a bit with Toshiba. A bit, cute... Sandisk has talked about their 55nm 8Gbit chip (<100mm2) but have they announced anything for a 16Gbit chip at that node? Has anybody? I haven't heard anything official, but right now, unless Sandisk has to announce anything, I don't think they'll want to. They should be on track for Q4 as planned, and they don't want to veer off plan either way. If they're behind schedule, people may lose confidence and if they're ahead, they'll be concerned about gluts and overproduction. Ideally, they ramp up with just enough in time for the peak season without flattening it out.

To: slacker711 who wrote (33411)	9/12/2006 11:48:35 AM
From: Pam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

The vast majority of the 60nm output should be 8Gbit MLC. Message 22636243 Well, I have seen some news items from a later date indicating that the 8Gb MLC at 60nm is not a monolithic chip but 2x4Gb MLC chips at 60nm stacked together. I checked for specs at Samsung's website sometime back and didn't find them. I think that this chip probably gives the lead back to Samsung since this chip is a bit smaller than Sandisk's 70nm 8GBit chip (135.6mm2 vs. 146mm2). One variable though, we dont know what percentage of these chips will be on 300mm wafers versus Sandisk's production. Well, yes and no. It is definitely smaller in size vs. the one from Toshiba at 70nm but it should have been even more smaller at 63nm. I think it must be getting diffcult to shrink at finer geometries because Toshiba's 55nm chip is also relatively larger at 99 mm2 vs. the current 70nm 8Gb chip at 146 mm2. Yes, we do not know what %ge is coming from 300mm. Samsung has 60nm toolset for 200mm lines which Toshiba/Sandisk have decided not to invest in for their Fab 1&2 lines. Also, Toshiba is way ahead in terms of yields. They must have completely migrated their production to 70nm on all their lines by now and Samsung just got started. So overall, I do not believe Samsung's cost structure is lower than Toshiba's even with high volume production in the 4Q. Does anyone have specs for Samsung's 60nm chip? Is it different in size from the one they were sampling at 63nm? Hmmm....Sandisk has talked about their 55nm 8Gbit chip (<100mm2) but have they announced anything for a 16Gbit chip at that node? Has anybody? Sandisk's 55nm 8Gb will be 99 mm2 but they haven't announced anything yet on 16Gb chips.