Japanese memory chip maker Toshiba said it would make flash-based solid state drives for notebook PCs, as it seeks to create new sources of demand for flash memory chips. The maker of NAND-type flash memory said its solid state drives would range in capacity from 32 gigabytes to 128 gigabytes, and that it will mass produce the 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch drives in May 2008.

Zippy, quiet, and boasting a faster boot time than hard disk drives, solid state drives are used in portable devices like tablet PCs and Ultra-Mobile PCs. But their high price has prevented them from going mainstream in the PC market.