Toshiba Corp., the largest maker of flash memory on the globe, has announced the launch of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB SDHC UHS-I cards, all compliant with the SD memory card standard 3.0 (SD 3.0) that deliver the world's fastest data read and write speeds to date, which can be compared to low-cost solid-state drives.

The new SDHC UHS-I cards are the world's first memory cards compliant with SD 3.0, UHS104, and introduce a new level of ultra-fast read and write speeds to NAND flash based memory cards: a maximum read speed of 95MB/s, and a write speed of 80MB/s. The new microSDHC UHS-I cards are the world's first microSDHC memory cards compliant with SD 3.0, UHS50, and they also offer the world's fastest read and write speeds in their class: a maximum read speed of 40MB/s and a write speed of 20MB/s.

Mass production of the new SDHC UHS-I cards and sample shipments of the new microSDHC UHS-I cards will start this November. Pricing is unknown.

The new SD 3.0 specifications meet strong demand in the SD card market and combine increased data capacity with the fast data transfer rates essential for such applications as burst shooting with digital single lens reflex cameras and other advanced digital still cameras, HD digital camcorders, and high speed transfers of data between hardware.

Tags: Toshiba, Flash, SD, SDHC