Intel's Flash-Memory Chip Falls Flat

Intel's(INTC) new flash memory chip was supposed to rev up PC performance and sales.

But a month after its release, Intel's so-called Turbo Memory appears to be having trouble getting up to speed.

The technology is getting the cold shoulder from some PC vendors, most notably from Hewlett-Packard(HPQ), the world's No. 1 PC maker, which has declared that it's not interested in Turbo Memory right now.

The lukewarm reception is in contrast to the praise Intel has received for the string of new chips it has unleashed over the past year, which has allowed the company to regain market share from rival Advanced Micro Devices(AMD) and sent its stock up more than 30% in the past 12 months.

The slow start also raises questions about the long-awaited marriage between NAND flash memory and the PC, something Intel was expected to inaugurate with the introduction of Turbo Memory.

"It's pretty fair to say that the whole flash-enhanced [PC] performance ... story has lost a lot of momentum," says Richard Shim, an analyst at industry research firm IDC.

He cites the newness of the technology in PCs and the corresponding difficulties in how to properly measure its performance, as well as the rock-bottom prices of alternatives like DRAM memory, for Turbo Memory's struggles.

Turbo Memory is based on NAND flash, a type of memory that is popular in gadgets such as MP3 players and digital cameras. Inside a PC, the thinking goes, NAND flash can speed up the time it takes for software to boot up, as well as offer longer battery life.