Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees-JV (Details Textual 1)	3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended						3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended															3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Jan. 01, 2012 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 02, 2011 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 02, 2011 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] JPY (¥)	Jan. 01, 2012 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] SanDisk Corporation [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Partners Ltd [Member] Toshiba Corporation [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 02, 2011 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 02, 2011 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] JPY (¥)	Jan. 01, 2012 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] SanDisk Corporation [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Alliance Ltd [Member] Toshiba Corporation [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Forward Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Forward Ltd [Member] JPY (¥)	Jan. 01, 2012 Flash Forward Ltd [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Forward Ltd [Member] SanDisk Corporation [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Forward Ltd [Member] Toshiba Corporation [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Ventures [Member] USD ($)		Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Ventures [Member] JPY (¥)	Jan. 01, 2012 Flash Ventures [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Ventures [Member] Standard and Poor [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Ventures [Member] Moody's [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Flash Ventures [Member] Rating and Investment Information [Member]
Venture Ownership
Firm's ownership in business venture									49.90%								49.90%					49.90%
Partner's ownership in venture business										50.10%								50.10%					50.10%
Equity Investments
Notes Receivable, Related Parties, Noncurrent			$ 199,300,000		$ 199,300,000						$ 688,000,000		$ 688,000,000						$ 180,000,000					$ (1,067,000,000)			$ (1,297,000,000)
Equity investment in business venture			255,000,000		255,000,000			258,200,000			375,500,000		375,500,000			368,500,000			72,500,000		19,500,000			(703,000,000)			(646,000,000)
Cumulative translation adjustments	294,679,000	300,788,000	82,700,000		82,700,000			85,800,000			90,300,000		90,300,000			92,600,000			3,400,000		1,100,000
Equity Method Investment Difference Between Carrying Amount And Underlying Equity (Basis Adjustment)			500,000	1,300,000	2,600,000	4,000,000					3,900,000	4,600,000	11,700,000	20,400,000
Investment in capacity expansion																						50.00%
Current FAB capacity utilization (text)																			full	full
Master Lease Agreements
Joint Venture Master Equipment Lease Agreement Amount																								4,990,000,000		387,600,000,000
Joint Venture Master Equipment Lease Agreement Outstanding Amount																								2,000,000,000		155,300,000,000
Guarantee of Flash Ventures equipment leases			228,934,000		228,934,000		17,800,000,000				419,766,000		419,766,000		32,600,000,000				350,154,000	27,300,000,000				998,854,000	[1]	77,700,000,000	732,000,000
Master Lease Covenants
Minimum Rating																												BB-	BB-	BB+
External Credit Rating																												BB		BBB
Joint Venture Master Equipment Lease Agreement Guarantor Equity Covenant																								1,510,000,000
Tax Commitment
Unrecognized tax benefits from the contractual obligation	$ 210,100,000

[1] The Company’s guarantee obligation, net of cumulative lease payments, was 77.7 billion Japanese yen, or approximately $999 million based upon the exchange rate at September 30, 2012.