Japanese memory chip maker Toshiba Corp said on Monday it would make flash-based solid state drives for notebook PCs, as it seeks to create new sources of demand for flash memory chips.

The world's No. 2 maker of NAND-type flash memory said its solid state drives would range in capacity from 32 gigabytes to 128 gigabytes, and that it will mass produce the 1.8-inch and 2.5 inch drives in May 2008.

Zippy, quiet, and boasting a faster boot time than hard disk drives, solid state drives are used in portable devices like tablet PCs and Ultra-Mobile PCs. But their high price has prevented them from going mainstream in the PC market.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's biggest memory chip maker, and Toshiba's partner SanDisk Corp already make solid-state drives.

Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc has also said it would enter the solid state drive market, with mass production to start next quarter.

(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Malcolm Whittaker)

Electronics