Author(s)

Falan Yinug


Abstract

This article addresses three questions about the flash memory market. First, will the growth of the flash memory market be a short- or long-term phenomenon? Second, will the growth of the flash memory market prompt changes in firm behavior and industry structure? Third, what are the implications for global semiconductor trade patterns of flash memory market growth? The analysis concludes that flash memory market growth is a long-term phenomenon to which producers have responded in four distinct ways. It also concludes that the rise in flash memory demand has intensified current semiconductor trade patterns but has not shifted them fundamentally.