Samsung to deliver only 85% of promised NAND flash to "its major customers"

Remember that Seoul power outage which took down six chip production lines for the world's largest flash memory producer, Samsung? Well, those predictions of NAND flash memory shortages appear to be ringing true. If statements from PQI's general manager, Jance Lu are to be believed, then Samsung will be fulfilling only 85% of their promised NAND flash deliveries to "its major customers" in the second half of August -- i.e., now. It goes without saying then that the estimated 3% shortage in global NAND supply will be followed by a sharp increase in NAND prices due to the unquenchable demand. With modern manufacturers relying on "just in time" inventory fulfillment to keep storage and holding costs to a minimum, you'd better hold tight for possible flash-heavy, product shortages-to-come this holiday season. Egads, if true, we're looking at possible shortages in cellphones, GPS devices, handhelds, DAPs and PMPs including, of course, iPods and iPhones which source much of their memory from Samsung.