Samsung Electronics has developed an integrated circuit with built-in 2 MB Flash memory for smartcards, the company said Wednesday. It unveiled the product at the smartcard exhibition Cartes 2005 in Paris on Tuesday, saying the circuit, which doubles the current memory capacity, can expand the messaging and phone book features of mobile devices. The chip will allow users to play role-playing games on their handheld devices as well.
Smart card ICs are semiconductors with a central processing unit, one of the core technologies used in GSM mobile phones, transport cards, credit cards and electronic ID. The new product is designed to process at a low voltage of 1.62 V despite its large capacity, the company says.
Samsung says it will produce the smartcard IC on its 300 mm wafer production line and use it in various mobile devices. According to market researchers iSuppli, the smartcard market will grow from last year¡¯s 1 billion units to 1.6 billion in 2008.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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