Numonyx's second quarter NOR revenue rose to $380 million, up $50 million compared to the first quarter, iSuppli (El Segundo, Calif.) said. Numonyx held a 34.6 percent share of the NOR market in the second quarter, according to iSuppli.

Meanwhile, Spansion's revenue declined by $22 million in the second quarter to $376 million, iSuppli said. Spansion's second quarter NOR market share declined to 34.2 percent, according to the market research firm.

"During the past five years, Spansion and Numonyx have fought tooth and nail for the No. 1 position in the NOR flash memory market, each alternating in the top spot several times over," said Michael Yang, senior analyst for storage and mobile memory at iSuppli, in a statement. "In the second quarter, it was Numonyx's turn to pull ahead and take its place as the top dog."

Yang noted that the battle between the two companies took an interesting turn early this year, when Spansion filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shifted focus to the embedded market segment rather than the wireless market. That left the wireless segment wide open, Yang said, and other NOR companies scrambled to secure additional business in the handset market, notably Numonyx (Geneva, Switzerland) and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

"Numonyx is likely to continue to pull away from Spansion during the company's reorganization," Yang said.

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Wireless products, specifically cell phones, represent the largest single market for NOR flash memory, which is used to store code in such products, according to iSuppli.

Samsung's second-quarter NOR revenue surged by 19.4 percent to $117 million, up from $98 million in the first quarter, iSuppli said. The company maintained its third-place ranking with a 10.6 percent market share, iSuppli said.

Macronix International and Silicon Storage Technology rounded out the Top-5 NOR suppliers, with each gaining revenue in the second quarter, iSuppli said.

Despite challenges associated with reorganization, iSuppli said it believes Spansion will remain a strong player in the flash memory market. Spansion will rebound along with the economy and be in a stable position to re-emerge as one of the continued strong players in the flash market, although it will play in different markets than before, iSuppli predicted.

ISuppli is offering for sale a new report on the NOR flash market segment through the firm's web site.