Samsung Electronics has developed what it says is the world's first 64-gigabit memory chip using 30-nanometer-class process technology.

A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter a human hair is about 80-thousand nanometers across.

The thumbnail-sized NAND flash chip holds 64 billion basic memory cells.

The company says it can develop a 128-gigabyte memory card with 16 of the new flash memory devices. The new memory card would be able to store the DNA information of 40 people, and 124 hours of video, or about 80 DVD-resolution movies.

Samsung predicts a market of 20 billion dollars for the new chip over a three-year period starting in 2009 when production will begin.

NAND chips are commonly used in portable electronics devices such as MP3 players.

With this development Samsung Electronics has for the eighth straight year proven the so-called “Hwang's Law." In 2002, Samsung executive Hwang Chang-gyu predicted that flash memory density would double every year.