James Delahunty
28 Feb 2010 7:46
SanDisk has made upbeat comments on the near-future market for flash memory products. The U.S. flash-memory maker raised its revenue forecast for the first quarter, prompting a 2 percent rise in shares after a 2.2 percent rise in the regular session on the Nasdaq. It now forecasts its Q1 revenue to be between $925 million and $1 billion, up from $875 - $950 million.
SanDisk CFO Judy Bruner said the company is comfortable that 2010 revenue will be at the high-end of its $4 - $4.4 billion forecast. Chief Executive Eli Harari said he expects the growth in the industry for flash industry over the next decade to "dwarf" the growth of the previous ten years in the sector.
"What is different really over the next decade is that the scale of the business, I believe, the growth ahead is going to be on a bigger scale," Harari said at an investor meeting. He expects SanDisk to ship 1 billion units over the next two years. In the previous three years, SanDisk shipped 1 billion units.
SanDisk is the No.1 manufacturer of NAND flash memory cards used in devices like digital cameras. It rivals consumer electronics heavy-weights including Samsung Electronics, Toshiba Corp and Hynix Semiconductor.