Demand to grow for flash-based solid-state drives

More drives will be used in computers

By Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 2/7/2008 11:36:00 AM

Buyers can expect more solid-state drives to be listed on their bills of materials.

SSD revenue will grow from just $23 million in 2007 to a hefty $5.6 billion in 2011, says researcher iSuppli.

The good news for buyers is that the price per SSD will fall each year, while the drive capacity will increase. For instance, the average price will drop from $274 in 2007 to $101 in 2011, says iSuppli. At the same, average SSD capacity will increase from 34 gigabytes (GB) in 2007 to 125 GB in 2011.

 SSD manufacturers say more SSDs will be used in computers.

For instance Samsung displayed a slim, solid-state drive designed for laptops and desktops at the Consumer Electronics Show. The drive has a capacity of 128 gigabytes. Flash-memory maker SanDisk Corp. unveiled a laptop drive with a 72GB capacity that weighs about 30% less than a hard drive of the same dimensions.

Toshiba demonstrated its new line of solid-state drives for notebooks which will go into production this quarter. Its first drives will be offered in three capacities: 32 gigabytes (GB) 4GB and 128GB. They will go into mass production this quarter.

The number of SSDs shipped will grow from 84,000 in 2007 to 1.5 million in 2008 and to 55 million by 2011 when 27% of notebook computers will be equipped with SSDs, according to researcher iSuppli.

Scott Nelson, vice president, memory business unit, for Toshiba America Electronic Components in Irvine, Calif., says solid-state drives will have so much growth because they offer performance advantages over hard-disk drives. Advantages include faster boot time; improved performance, fast random read and write, quieter operation and higher reliability.

“They also have the ability to withstand greater shock and vibration; and they weigh less,” he says.