NOR flash supplier Spansion now leads in flash memory used in wireless handsets, according to iSuppli. Sales of Spansion’s NOR-type flash memory rose to $1.8 billion in 2006, up 35% from $1.4 billion in 2005. Spansion's market share increased to 29.9% in 2006, up from 25.8% in 2005. This allowed Spansion to take the top rank in worldwide mobile-phone flash-memory rankings, displacing Intel as the market leader.

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"The major factor behind Spansion's impressive gains was its increasing sales to top-tier handset makers and market-share increases in Japan and the Asia/Pacific region," said Mark DeVoss, senior analyst, flash /SRAM/MCP for iSuppli. "In contrast, Intel-the No. 1 supplier in 2005-slipped to No. 2 in 2006, with its flash-memory sales to the mobile-phone market rising only 5.1% for the year to reach $1.6 billion, up from $1.5 billion in 2005. Intel's share in mobile-phone flash fell to 26.1% in 2006, down from 28.9% in 2005. Intel's woes in the mobile-phone flash market are believed to be related to capacity issues that affected deliveries primarily to Asian mobile-phone makers."

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