Going by a Samsung-Numonyx joint statement on Tuesday, the two chip makers have teamed up for a new project pertaining to the development of technology related to Phase Change Memory (PCM) chips.

As per the terms of the collaboration, the world's top memory chips' maker, the South Korea-based Samsung, and Numonyx - formed last year with assets from Intel and STMicroelectronics - would build up common specifications for PCM - a next-generation technology likely to be used in advanced handsets, mobile and computing devices.

The companies claim that PCM is more energy-efficient as compared to the traditional NOR and NAND flash memory - it consumes less power but has the ability to perform at very fast read and write speeds.

Kim Sei-jin, Samsung's VP of mobile memory technology planning and enabling, said that PCM would be a major addition to the company's 'memory products', with the potential of strengthening Samsung's leadership in the memory chips industry.

Saying that the compliant devices of the two companies would be available next year, the Numonyx President and CEO Brian Harrison said that the Samsung-Numonyx collaboration will help "provide the kind of direction and clarity that is often needed when new technologies are introduced. The common specifications will enable others to standardize and more easily support the delivery of a new generation of memory technology."