TECHNOLOGY : Toshiba, Samsung Team Up to Develop Memory Chips

Despite a rivalry over notebook computers that is likely to develop between Toshiba Corp.’s Irvine unit and Samsung Electronics, the two companies are teaming up to develop computer memory chips.

Under the terms of a recent agreement, Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. in Irvine and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in Seoul, South Korea, will begin developing the memory storage products, known as flash cards.

The cards are plugged into notebook computers to give them additional memory to store programs without taking up space on magnetic disk drives. Unlike with conventional computer memory, data stored in flash memory does not disappear if the computer is turned off accidentally.

Toshiba has the largest share of the world’s notebook computer market. Samsung plans to join the hotly contested arena once its agreement to buy 40% of stock in Irvine computer maker AST Research Inc. is completed later this year.

The two companies plan to begin selling the memory product next spring.