Nanochip Awarded for its MEMS Storage Chips

Nanochip, Inc., a developer of advanced microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) silicon data storage chips, today announced that it has received the AlwaysOn Global 250 award for its innovative, ultra-high-capacity removable storage technology.

Established by AlwaysOn, a leading online media network, the AO Global 250 award recognizes major developments in the creation of new business opportunities in the global technology industries. Nanochip will be honored this week at the AlwaysOn & STVP Summit at Stanford, taking place July 22-24 at Stanford University. The two-and-a-half day executive event will highlight the significant economic, political and commercial trends disrupting the global technology industries.

Nanochip’s new class of advanced storage chips will enable the storage of tens of gigabytes (GB) of data per chip, or the equivalent of many high-definition feature-length videos. By coupling MEMS with nano-probe array technology that far exceeds the expected limits of conventional lithography used in present semiconductor memory, these new chips are designed to meet the growing demand for cost-effective, removable and rewritable data storage for use in a wide range of computing, server and consumer electronics products.

"The AO Global 250 winners have excelled in key strategic areas in the global technology markets," said Tony Perkins, founder and CEO of AlwaysOn. "We congratulate Nanochip and the other winners for their success in introducing new tools, services and platforms that are driving the next phase of innovation and creating real value at an economically uncertain time."

Nanochip was specially selected from hundreds of companies by the AlwaysOn editorial team and other industry experts spanning the globe. The AO Global 250 winners, representing the hottest, most disrupting private companies in technology, were chosen based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.

"The AO Global 250 award underscores the strength of our technology and its tremendous potential to provide significant value to the global technology market," said Gordon R. Knight, Ph.D., CEO of Nanochip, Inc. "We continue to make significant progress in the development of our ultra-high-capacity storage chips, and we are thrilled that our efforts have been recognized by the AlwaysOn organization."

Nanochip’s first products will be available in 2010 and are expected to exceed 100 GB per chip set, reaching terabytes (TB) in the future, and at a substantially lower cost compared with flash memory solutions. Nanochip has been granted 14 U.S. patents for its technology, and has more than additional 50 patents in process.

The full list of all the AO Global 250 winners