Toshiba Adds New High Performance SDHC Cards and High Capacity microSD Card to Extensive Memory Card Line-Up

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., (TAEC)* and its parent, Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba), a leading innovator in memory card solutions, today announced the latest enhancements to its extensive line-up of SD Memory Cards: a 4-gigabyte(1) (GB) Class 6 SDHC Card; a 4GB Class 4 miniSDHC Card; and a 2GB microSD Memory Card. The new SDHC and miniSDHC Cards will be available worldwide from March 2007, and the microSD will be launched worldwide in April.

The expanded card series will be featured at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8 to 11, in booth #12832.

The SD High Capacity standard (version 2.00)(2) takes card-based memory into the broadband era by defining three classes of high-speed data write for cards with an enhanced capacity of 4GB and more. The market for these high performance memory cards will grow alongside increasing demand for digital equipment able to handle motion pictures and high-resolution images without long delay times. Demand for miniSDHC Cards and microSD Cards will primarily come from mobile phones.

Toshiba's new 4GB Class 6 SDHC meets the ultra high speed Class 6 rating, and delivers a minimum sustained write speed of 6MB/s(3); Toshiba has measured sustained performance at a maximum of 20MB/s. The new 4GB SDHC card extends the Company's line up of 4GB SDHC beyond the Class 4 card launched in September.

With the new 4GB miniSDHC card, Toshiba brings to market the industry's first Class 4 miniSDHC card, capable of sustained write speeds of 4MB/s. This advance will bring new levels of performance and functionality to mobile phones and other personal digital products.

Toshiba rounds out its latest additions with a 2GB microSD Card, reinforcing its overall product line-up in all key areas.

Toshiba will continue to expand and upgrade its SDHC and SD Memory Card series to meet the growing demand for high speed, high capacity products.

Outline of New SD Memory Card

Product Name Capacity SD Speed Class Start of mass

production

SDHC Memory Card

High Performance 4GB Class 6 March, 2007

miniSDHC Memory Card 4GB Class 4 March, 2007

microSD Memory Card 2GB ----- April, 2007

Key Features

1. SDHC Memory Card (High Performance Type)

-- Realizes maximum speed of 20MB/s.

-- "Class 6" SD Speed Class, with a minimum sustained data write of

6MB/s.

-- Applies highly secure CPRM(4) copyright technology.

2. miniSDHC Memory Card

-- Realizes large 4GB capacity in miniSDHC Card. It can store 69

hours of music at a bit rate of 128kbps(5).

-- "Class 4" SD Speed Class, with a minimum sustained data write of

4MB/s.

-- Applies highly secure CPRM copyright technology.

3. microSD Memory Card

-- Realizes 2GB capacity, best-of-class in a microSD Card.

-- Applies highly secure CPRM copyright technology.

SD Memory Cards

The SD memory card was jointly developed in 1999 by Toshiba Corporation, SanDisk Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (best known for its Panasonic brand name products). SD memory cards have been widely adopted worldwide. Toshiba has shipped more than 200 million memory cards(6) and is currently the world's second largest supplier(7) of NAND Flash memory. The addition of the SDHC card to the Toshiba SD Card family addresses the growing demand for high capacity storage.

The Toshiba SD Memory Card family now includes standard SD memory cards, as well as miniSD, microSD and SDHC cards. The entire SD card line features cryptographic security, protection of copyrighted data, high-data transfer rate for fast copy/download and high storage capacity. TAEC currently offers a wide selection of SD Memory Cards with storage capacities of 512MB, 1GB and 2GB in the standard (blue) product family, and a higher performance (white) family of cards in 512MB and 1GB capacities. The Toshiba SD Memory card line-up now includes miniSD in capacities ranging from 512MB(8) to 2GB, microSD cards in capacities of 256MB, 512MB and 1GB, and SDHC Cards in capacities of 4GB and 8GB.

NAND Flash Background

Toshiba was a principal innovator of NAND- and NOR-type Flash memory technology in the 1980's and maintains leadership in Flash technology today, with a complete line of removable and embedded NAND solutions to meet various application requirements. NAND Flash has become one of the leading technologies for solid-state storage applications because of its high-speed programming capability, high-speed erasing, and low cost. The sequential nature (serial access) of NAND-based Flash memory provides notable advantages for these block-oriented data storage applications. Toshiba's NAND Flash memory products are optimized for general solid-state storage, image file storage and audio for applications such as solid-state disk drives, digital cameras, audio appliances, set-top boxes and industrial storage.

*About TAEC

Combining quality and flexibility with design engineering expertise, TAEC brings a breadth of advanced, next-generation technologies to its customers. This broad offering includes memory and flash memory-based storage solutions, a broad range of discrete devices, displays, medical tubes, ASICs, custom SOCs, microprocessors, microcontrollers and wireless components for the computing, wireless, networking, automotive and digital consumer markets.

TAEC is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba), Japan's largest semiconductor manufacturer and the world's fourth largest semiconductor manufacturer. In more than 130 years of operation, Toshiba has recorded numerous firsts and made many valuable contributions to technology and society. For additional company and product information, please visit TAEC's website at chips.toshiba.com. For technical inquiries, please e-mail Tech.Questions@taec.toshiba.com.

Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable Toshiba product specifications. In developing designs, please ensure that Toshiba products are used within specified operating ranges as set forth in the most recent Toshiba product specifications and the information set forth in Toshiba's "Handling Guide for Semiconductor Devices," or "Toshiba Semiconductor Reliability Handbook." This information is available at http://www.chips.toshiba.com, or from your TAEC representative.

All trademarks and tradenames held within are the properties of their respective holders.

(1) When used herein in relation to memory density, gigabyte and/or GB

means 1,024x1,024x1,024 = 1,073,741,824 bytes. Usable capacity may

be less. For details, please refer to specifications.

(2) Note: The SDHC Memory Card cannot be used for devices that do not

support the SD Memory Card Ver2.00 standard, as the file formats

differ.

(3) Read and write speed may vary depending on the read and write

conditions, such as devices you use and file sizes you read and/or

write. (For purposes of measuring write speed in this context,

1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes).

(4) The copyright protection technology developed by 4C Entity, LLC

(Toshiba, Matsushita, Intel and IBM), which is also used on DVD.

(5) The number of hours were estimated by dividing the memory capacity by

the stated bit rate.

(6) Based on 2004 shipments including OEM shipments. Source: Techno

System Research Co, Ltd.

(7) Source: Gartner, Inc. November 2006.

(8) When used herein in relation to memory density, megabyte and/or MB

means 1,024x1,024 = 1,048,576 bytes. Usable capacity may be less.

For details, please refer to specifications.

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