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Description Of Business	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011
Description Of Business [Abstract]
Description Of Business	Note 1—Description of Business         Netlist, Inc. (the "Company" or "Netlist") designs and manufactures a wide variety of high performance, logic-based memory subsystems for the global datacenter and high-performance computing and communications markets. The Company's memory subsystems consist of combinations of dynamic random access memory integrated circuits ("DRAM ICs" or "DRAM"), NAND flash memory ("NAND"), application-specific integrated circuits ("ASICs") and other components assembled on printed circuit boards ("PCBs"). Netlist primarily markets and sells its products to leading original equipment manufacturer ("OEM") customers. The Company's solutions are targeted at applications where memory plays a key role in meeting system performance requirements. The Company leverages a portfolio of proprietary technologies and design techniques, including efficient planar design, alternative packaging techniques and custom semiconductor logic, to deliver memory subsystems with high memory density, small form factor, high signal integrity, attractive thermal characteristics, reduced power consumption and low cost per bit.         Netlist was incorporated in June 2000 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. In 2007, the Company established a manufacturing facility in the People's Republic of China (the "PRC"), which became operational in July 2007 upon the successful qualification of certain key customers.

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- Definition

The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings).

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-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.



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