Led by the growing popularity of camera phones, the market for flash cards is on fire and expected to grow in value from $8 billion in 2003 to more than $27 billion by 2008, according to market analyst Semico Research.

“The displacement of cameras as the flash card leading application is due partly to the incredible growth of camera phones coupled with consumers interest to play music on their cell phones,” said Jim Handy, Semico’s director of non-volatile memory services, in a statement.

Semico (Phoenix) said it believes that digital cell phones and card-based camcorders (CBCs) will offer significant opportunities for card manufacturers in the near future. The firm is currently offering for sale a recent study of the flash card market and end markets.