The filing follows Alcatel's announcement Monday that it would eliminate 1,100 U.S. jobs, about 5 percent of its worldwide work force. Long-term sales contracts for flash memory have become fairly common in the last two years as a way to even out the fluctuations in supply and demand. Flash memory prices skyrocketed last year amid persistent shortages. Bit shipments, or the amount of flash measured by the number of memory cells produced, more than doubled last year. This year, the situation has reversed.
Flash memory is used in cell phones, telecommunications and other products.
AMD is No. 2 in the flash memory market and has signed similar deals with other major companies, such as Hewlett-Packard. Alcatel builds networks for delivering integrated voice and data over the Internet. Representatives at the company's Plano, Texas, office could not be reached for comment. Inc. All rights reserved.