Samsung in Talks With Sony Over NAND Chips

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip maker, confirmed Monday that it is in talks with Sony Corp. to supply NAND flash memory chips. <br/><br/>``We are

Tuesday, December 27th 2005, 10:55 am

By: News On 6

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip maker, confirmed Monday that it is in talks with Sony Corp. to supply NAND flash memory chips.

``We are talking to major companies including Sony to supply our NAND flash chips, but no details have been decided yet,'' Samsung spokeswoman Lee Eun-Hee said.

Earlier Monday, the Korea Economic Daily reported that the chip maker is negotiating with Sony to provide its NAND flash chips on a long-term basis, citing an unnamed company official.

Sony is seeking to secure NAND flash chips of eight gigabytes or higher, and the order amount is expected to be more than a fifth of Samsung's total NAND flash output from next year, according to the report.

The two sides are expected to sign a contract in the first half of 2006, the paper said.

In November, Apple Computer Inc. entered into a $500 million long-term contract for Samsung to supply flash memory chips through 2010.