SanDisk today announced that it has started shipping NAND flash chips based on X4 controller technology. SanDisk co-developed and co-owns the new technology with Toshiba. The X4 technology packs four bits of data into each memory cell. Flash memory chips available today stores one, two or at the max 3 bits per cell. The X4 technology allows each NAND chip to hold 64 gigabits (Gb) or 8GB data.

Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk’s president and chief operating officer said “Our challenge with X4 technology was to not only deliver the lower costs inherent to 4-bits-per-cell but to do so while meeting the reliability and performance requirements of the industry standard cards.”

SanDisk is now shipping 8GB and 16GB SDHC cards and also 8GB and 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo cards. The company plans to ship 64GB and larger capacity SD cards next year based on the X4 technology.
[Via CNET]