Flash memory capacity has grown more than fourfold to 2.9 million equivalent 200-mm wafers a month since 2000, according to the firm. By contrast, DRAM capacity has grown by only 225 percent since then, according to the firm.

In the three year period from 2005 through the end of this year, flash manufacturers will add six times the capacity that they added in the preceding four years, according to the report.

In 2008 and 2009, the industry is planning to bring ten more fabs online with a capacity when fully equipped of 1.5 million 200-mm equivalent wafers a month, according to SMA.

''Alliances, and Samsung, are really driving the growth in flash capacity,'' said George Burns, president of SMA. ''The Toshiba/SanDisk joint ventures have added more capacity recently than Samsung, Hynix and IMFlash combined.''

The Toshiba/SanDisk JVs include Flash Vision, Flash Partners and Flash Alliance. Flash Alliance's Fab 4, which has just begun processing wafers, will have a capacity of more 210,000 300-mm wafers a month when fully equipped.

''That's the biggest fab in the world,'' Burns noted. ''It's equivalent to almost one half million 200-mm wafers.''