Samsung Electronics announced today that it has become the first to begin mass producing 16 gigabit (or 2GB) NAND flash, the highest capacity memory chip now available. Samsung said it will fabricate the chips in 51 nanometers (nm), the finest process technology to be used in memory mass production to date. Samsung boasts that the new 51nm process is 60% more efficient than its existing 60nm process. The Korean firm also notes that it has managed to transition to 51nm process technology just eight months after announcing its first 8Gb NAND flash chip based on a 60nm process last August. Density isn't the 16Gb chip's only upside, though. Samsung's new baby has a read speed of 30MB/s and a write speed of 8MB/s, which the firm compares to 17MB/s and 4.4MB/s speeds for existing 60nm multi-level cell-based flash chips. Samsung expects the new chip to hit the mainstream market late this year and to allow for flash memory cards with capacities of as much as 16GB.