Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of flash memory, said on Tuesday that it had made a strategic investment into Fusion-io, a leading maker of solid-state drives (SSDs) aimed at enterprises and gamers. The two companies have also agreed to jointly evaluate technology for new SSD applications.

"In securing these agreements, Samsung is furthering its working relationship with Fusion-io. We continue to be impressed with the technology Fusion-io is creating and are now taking our relationship with them to a new level," said Jim Elliott, vice president of memory marketing at Samsung Semiconductor.

Samsung's strategic financial investment will drive further solid-state development at Fusion-io, which is expected to result in a steady evolution of advanced storage media. By providing funding to Fusion-io, Samsung ensures that the company will continue to acquire more and more flash chips from the manufacturer. According to Fusion-io, quarter-over-quarter sales for Fusion-io products have nearly doubled since the company announced its first product, the ioDrive, in late 2007.

"Samsung's superior quality, product consistency and close working partnership have been important contributors to our success to date," said David Flynn, president and chief technology officer of Fusion-io. "We are honored by Samsung's recognition of our potential and are gratified that these agreements will ensure that our products use the best NAND flash on the market today."

Tags: Samsung, Fusion-io, Flash, SSD