SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a global leader in flash storage solutions, today celebrates the receipt of its 5,000th patent, the latest milestone and achievement from a company whose innovations have transformed the consumer electronics market for more than a quarter-century. The company was also recently named a Thomson Reuters 2014 Top 100 Global Innovator, recognizing its achievements as one of the world’s most innovative companies. It is the fourth consecutive year that SanDisk has earned this prestigious distinction.

Founded by three engineers in Silicon Valley more than 26 years ago, SanDisk is a flash storage pioneer that has remained deeply committed to engineering and innovation. SanDisk’s patent portfolio includes flash storage innovations that have enabled new markets and devices – from digital photography to USB drives to smartphones, tablets and thin-and-light notebooks. Increasingly, SanDisk is also focused on transforming the data center.

“Since our inception, SanDisk’s passion for innovation and commitment to engineering excellence has enabled us to not only imagine the possibilities of technology, but also to create them,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk’s co-founder, president, chief executive officer, and holder of more than 70 patents. “In 1991, SanDisk changed the face of storage with a 20MB SSD, and today our innovations have helped to create a 4TB SSD for the data center. While we reflect upon these achievements, we are focused on developing the technologies and solutions that will drive the next phase of industry transformation.”

More Than 25 Years of SanDisk Innovation

The SanDisk IP portfolio includes pivotal patents in flash memory device and design, process technology, packaging, test, applications, and system level technologies that have helped drive the wide adoption and proliferation of flash memory and expand the possibilities of storage.

SanDisk’s patented advancements have also enabled the company to continue to chronicle numerous highly impactful “firsts” in the digital industry, from launching the world’s first solid state drive (SSD) in 1991 to introducing the industry’s multi-level cell (MLC) flash technologies using two bits (X2) and three bits (X3) per cell. In the last year alone, SanDisk has introduced the world’s highest capacity enterprise solid-state SAS drive, the highest capacity SD™ cards and fastest microSD™ UHS-I cards, and 1Z-nanometer (nm) technology, the world’s smallest and most advanced NAND flash process node.

SanDisk Named a Thomson Reuters 2014 Top 100 Global Innovator

Thomson Reuters 2014 Top 100 Global Innovator program, an initiative of the IP & Science business of Thomson Reuters, honors the 100 corporations and institutions around the world that are at the heart of innovation as measured by a series of proprietary patent-related metrics. The Thomson Reuters 2014 Top 100 Global Innovator methodology is based on four principle criteria: overall patent volume, patent grant success rate, global reach of the portfolio, and patent influence as evidenced by citations.

“The Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators prove that they are the companies driving economic growth, creating jobs, and pioneering new products and services,” said Basil Moftah, president, Thomson Reuters IP & Science. “We congratulate SanDisk and are honored to recognize their outstanding accomplishment for the fourth year in a row.”

A timeline of SanDisk’s legacy of innovation can be found at http://www.sandisk.com/about-sandisk/corporate/history/

About SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, is a global leader in flash storage solutions. For more than 25 years, SanDisk has expanded the possibilities of storage, providing trusted and innovative products that have transformed the electronics industry. Today, SanDisk’s quality, state-of-the-art solutions are at the heart of many of the world's largest data centers, and embedded in advanced smartphones, tablets and PCs. SanDisk’s consumer products are available at hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.

© 2014 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. The microSD and SD marks are trademarks of SD-3C, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.