The race for more and faster flash memory continues. Intel has upped the ante this time. They have announced the first 90-nanometer multi-level cell NOR flash memory device, called the Intel StrataFlash Cellular Memory (M18). It promises higher density, faster performance and a lower appetite for power than the 130nm device. It’s designed for the cellphones packed with all the bells and whistles.

“Flash memory is one of the driving technologies in enabling the next generation of cell phone applications,” said Darin Billerbeck, vice president and general manager, Intel Flash Products Group. “The M18 delivers to cellular designers the unique combination of performance, density and low power required for today’s phones.”

Intel boasts that the M18 has the fastest read speeds in the industry, allowing the memory to keep up with the latest chipsets. It supports write speeds of up to 0.5 MB per second. Single chips will be 256MB or 512MB with stacked solutions up to 1GB.