November 13, 2006 – Spansion Inc. expanded its share and solidified its lead in the global NOR-type flash memory market in 3Q06, as other competitors lost ground due to inventory overheads amid a weak pricing environment, according to data from iSuppli Corp.

Total NOR flash sales were $2.16 billion in 3Q, just 1.3% growth from 2Q06 and 7.4% from 3Q05. Mark DeVoss, senior analyst, flash/SRAM/MCP for iSuppli, noted that excess inventory in the channel for some providers drove down average selling prices and eroded revenues.

But Spansion saw its sales rise to $675 million, up 3% growth from the previous quarter and up 29.1% vs. a year ago. The company boosted production of higher-density, higher-margin NOR flash memories — a 15% sequential increase in 3Q shipments of 256-512Mbit densities — which helped add a few cents to the company’s blended NOR ASP, DeVoss added.

Intel and STMicroelectronics both lost ground, down -10% and -7.2% to $466 billion and $335 billion, respectively. Samsung gained some ground, posting sales of $145 million, up 8.2% sequentially and 38.1% year-on-year.

Preliminary ranking of the top-five suppliers of NOR-type flash memory, 3Q06
(Revenue in US $M)

Company…………..Revenues…….% market share…….vs. 2Q06…….vs. 3Q05

Spansion……………675…………………31.2%…………………3.1%…………..29.1%
Intel……………………466…………………21.6%………………..-10.0%…………-18.5%
STMicro………………335…………………15.5%……………….-7.2%…………..15.1%
Samsung…………….145…………………6.7%…………………..8.2%…………..38.1%
Toshiba……………….88…………………4.1%…………………….23.9%………..-1.1%
Others…………………453…………………21.0%…………………N/A……………….N/A

TOTAL…………..$2162…………………100.0%…………..1.30%………………7.40%

Source: iSuppli Corp.