Short Take: Hitachi to produce 256-megabit flash memory chips

Hitachi will begin producing 256-megabit flash memory chips in quantities of about 500,000 a month by early next year, according to company sources quoted by Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Anticipating demand in the emerging market for consumer audiovisual devices as well as cell phones and digital cameras, Hitachi's plans would make it one of the first to begin production of the high-capacity chips. 256-megabit flash chips would enable manufacturers to user fewer processors and thus build smaller devices.