Korean drive manufacturer Mtronstorage Technology has announced that it has completed development of a 128GB 1.8-inch ZIF-type solid state drive for laptops that will go into production in March.

Having previously launched 2.5-inch ZIF-type solid state drives for laptops, the company hopes the recent addition will further strengthen its position in a market that’s expected to expand rapidly over the next few years as the demand for Flash memory and solid-state drive storage increases.

Mtronstorage’s new drive has a maximum reading speed of 120MB/s and a maximum writing speed of 100MB/s – more than six times faster than the current 1.8-inch hard drive.

Commenting on the new device Steve Jeon, CEO of Mtronstorage Technology, said: "With our new 1.8-inch SSD, Mtron has added another great product line as a leader in the SSD market, which is expected to grow into ten billion dollars in 2012.”