Phison Electronics, which mainly designs and makes controllers for NAND flash memory integrated into products such as USB flash drives and memory cards, has announced it will make an advance payment of US$50 million for NAND flash chips. Phison did not disclose the source of the chips.
Industry sources have speculated Hynix Semiconductor is the one to receive the payment. Toshiba and Intel are Phison's other chip suppliers.
Phison chairman Khein Seng Pua recently expressed his optimism on the outlook for NAND flash memory in 2010, when the company's overall performance will improve from 2009. Phison has reported revenues of NT$24.46 billion for 2009, a 29.7% rise from 2008.
Pua also believes the market for solid-state drives (SSD) in notebooks will grow substantially in the second half of 2010.