Toshiba will begin mass-production of microSD memory cards, the world's smallest, in September, aiming to take market share amid strong demand for smaller cards, the Nihon Keizai business daily said on Friday.

The paper said Toshiba will make 3 million to 4 million units a month. MicroSD cards measure 15 by 11 by 1 millimeter, about a quarter the size of the miniSD cards commonly used in mobile phones.

A Toshiba spokesman could not immediately confirm the report.

The company has been producing microSD cards since last fall, but like other SD card manufacturers including Matsushita Electric Industrial, it had not began mass output due to high production costs and a lack of devices that are compatible with the cards, the paper said.

A 1GB microSD memory card is expected to sell for about 10,000 yen ($85), and Toshiba plans to introduce a 2GB microSD card that can store some 500 songs, the paper said.