SanDisk Corporation (NYSE: SNDK) is one of the world's largest suppliers of flash (or NAND) memory data storage products. A pioneer in NAND technologies, SanDisk holds many key patents and derived about 11.6% of 2009 revenue from licensing to other flash memory manufacturers.^[1] The company serves both retail consumers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), with each accounting for about half of total revenues in 2009.^[2]

The market for NAND memory is also correlated with that of DRAM (a different type of memory used in PCs) because several major memory companies, including NAND leader Samsung, fabricate both kinds interchangeably. In times of excess DRAM supply, for instance, memory makers often shift their manufacturing capabilities to NAND and vice versa. As a company dependent on primarily NAND, SanDisk has greater exposure to the cyclicality of that particular market.

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