Distributor Ingram Micro Inc. said that increased demand for memory and mobile storage prompted it to expand its relationship with Transcend Information Inc., a Taipei, Taiwan-headquartered maker of IT storage and multimedia gear, to include the U.S. market.

Ingram's prior distribution agreement with Transcend has been confined to Latin America and a portion of Asia Pacific.

Under terms of the agreement for the U.S. market, Ingram will carry Transcend's entire product portfolio, including its memory modules, flash memory cards, USB flash drives, MP3 players, portable solid state drives, multimedia products and accessories.

Tom Hogan, senior director of Ingram's components division, called worldwide demand for memory and mobile storage "virtually limitless," and said that the distributor's expanded deal with Transcend presented a "great opportunity for retailers, e-tailers and channel partners to drive incremental sales and enhance their support services."

MJ Cho, Transcend vice president, said that the memory maker has a "great relationship with Ingram Micro in other regions worldwide" and is "eager to replicate this success in the U.S."

On its website, Transcend lists 14 distributors for the U.S. market, including Synnex. The company said it also sells through online retailers TigerDirect.com, PC Connection and Buy.com as well as consumer chains Staples, Target and Crutchfield. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.