8GB Eee faces squeeze from flash, battery supplies
updated 01:15 pm EST, Mon January 28, 2008
8GB Eee supply problems
The 8G (8GB) version of ASUS' popular Eee PC may have limited availability for the foreseeable future, say executives with the company. The management notes that as the supply of SLC (single-level cell) NAND memory is currently tight, it has temporarily cut off shipments of the 8G Eee to Taiwan. President Jerry Shen comments that this is compounded by a shortage of batteries, which may actually be a greater threat to ASUS.
The top-level Eee should resume shipments within a week or two, but a portion of these units may have to go towards fulfilling backorders. Some analysts claim that ASUS may not actually be encountering memory shortages -- rather, as SLC NAND is sometimes several times the cost of MLC (multi-level) memory, ASUS may in fact be deliberately slowing down to reduce financial risks. [via DigiTimes]
