3D QLC
Samsung teased the industry's first 256 TB solid-state drive at the Flash Memory Summit 2023. The new drive features unprecedented storage density and is aimed primarily at hyper-scale data centers where storage density and reduced power consumption matter the most. Samsung's 256 TB SSD is based on 3D QLC NAND memory and probably uses innovative packaging to cram multiple 3D QLC NAND devices into stacks. The company does not disclose which form factor the drive uses. Still, because the unit is aimed mainly at hyper scalers, we expect Samsung to offer them in one of the emerging ESDFF form factors or Samsung's proprietary NGSFF form factor. For now, the only thing that Samsung discloses about its 256 TB SSD is that it is several times...
Kioxia and Western Digital Debut 218-Layer 3D NAND: 1Tb TLC with 3.2 GT/s IO Speed
Kioxia and Western Digital formally introduced their 8th Generation BiCS 3D NAND memory with 218 active layers. The new storage device offers a 1Tb capacity in 3D TLC mode...
34 by Anton Shilov on 3/31/2023NAND Flash Prices Have Dropped Rapidly In Recent Quarters - And So Have SSD Prices
Softened demand for PCs and smartphones coupled with NAND memory bits oversupply has sent prices of 3D NAND memory into a dive in recent quarters. In Q4, global NAND...
20 by Anton Shilov on 3/20/2023Crucial X6 Portable SSD 4TB Launches at $490: Phison's U17 Flash Controller Enters Retail
Crucial introduced the X6 Portable SSD last year as an entry-level alternative to their NVMe-based X8 Portable SSD. Launched in capacities of up to 2TB, the X6 adopted a...
1 by Ganesh T S on 3/2/20212021 NAND Flash Updates from ISSCC: The Leaning Towers of TLC and QLC
The annual IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference covers a range of topics of interest to AnandTech. Every year the conference includes a session on non-volatile memories where most of...
76 by Billy Tallis on 2/19/2021Intel Announces New Wave of Optane and 3D NAND SSDs
Today Intel is announcing updates to most of their SSD product lines. Their products based on 3D NAND are being updated to use Intel's 144-layer QLC and TLC NAND...
70 by Billy Tallis on 12/16/2020Phison At CES 2020: Preparing For QLC To Go Mainstream
NAND flash memory prices are projected to climb in 2020. The manufacturing transitions to 96-layer 3D NAND and beyond are not going to increase bit output as quickly as...
10 by Billy Tallis on 1/17/2020Western Digital Begins Shipments of 96-Layer 3D QLC-Based SSDs, Retail Products
Western Digital announced this week that it has started shipments of its first products based on 3D QLC NAND memory. The initial devices to use the highly-dense flash memory...
28 by Anton Shilov on 11/1/2019Crucial Introduces X8 Portable SSD
Micron's consumer brand Crucial is entering the portable SSD market with the new Crucial X8 Portable SSD. The X8 has a USB-C 10Gb/s (USB 3.1 Gen 2) connection and...
7 by Billy Tallis on 10/24/2019SK Hynix NAND Update: 3D NAND Output Cut, Slowdown Capacity Expansions
SK Hynix said that it would cut wafer starts of 3D NAND in the coming months more aggressively than it originally anticipated earlier this year. Besides, the company will...
14 by Anton Shilov on 7/26/2019Micron: Shipments of 3D QLC for SSDs Nearly Double QoQ as Wafer Starts Cut Again
Micron was among the first companies to start mass production and shipments of 3D QLC NAND, so it is not surprising that at present it is among the leading...
11 by Anton Shilov on 6/28/2019Silicon Motion’s SM8108: A Next-Gen Enterprise SSD Controller w/ Dual DRAM & 3D QLC Support
Having secured strong positions on the market for consumer SSDs, Silicon Motion is now after the enterprise SSD market. At Computex, the company demonstrated a prototype of an SSD...
7 by Anton Shilov on 6/24/2019Phison Demonstrates Turnkey SSDs Based on 3D QLC NAND
3D QLC NAND promises to become a significant phenomenon on the consumer SSD market thanks to its relatively low cost per gigabyte, further pushing down already dropping SSD prices...
12 by Anton Shilov on 6/21/2019SanDisk's First 1 TB microSD Card Now Available
Marking a new high in microSD card capacities, Western Digital has started shipping its flagship SanDisk Extreme 1 TB microSDXC card. This is the company's (and industry's) first 1...
22 by Anton Shilov on 5/16/2019SK Hynix Begins Sampling of 96-Layer 1 Tb 3D QLC NAND
SK Hynix recently started sampling of its 1 Tb 96-layer NAND flash memory devices featuring its PUC 3D QLC architecture. The new 1 Tb chip will enable SSD makers...
14 by Anton Shilov on 5/10/2019Western Digital Starts Shipments of Client SSDs Based on 96-Layer BICS4 3D NAND
Western Digital has been continuing to ramp up production of its 96-layer BICS4 3D NAND, and the company has already been using this flash memory for various retail storage...
10 by Anton Shilov on 5/1/2019Micron Returns to the microSD Card Market with the Micron c200 Series: From 128 GB to 1 TB
About a year and a half after discontinuing its Lexar consumer storage business, Micron is making a comeback with a series of microSD cards that it's demonstrating at Mobile...
5 by Anton Shilov on 2/26/2019ADATA Reveals Ultimate SU630 SSD: 3D QLC for SATA
ADATA has introduced its new entry-level SSD for client PCs. The Ultimate SU630 is the first drive from an independent maker of SSDs based on 3D QLC NAND, which...
14 by Anton Shilov on 11/15/2018SK Hynix Launches 96-Layer 3D NAND and Discloses QLC Plans
SK Hynix this week officially launched its new 96-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips, which feature a new architecture and a faster interface. The NAND has already been qualified...
4 by Anton Shilov on 11/8/2018The Crucial P1 1TB SSD Review: The Other Consumer QLC SSD
The Crucial P1 is the second consumer SSD with QLC NAND to hit the market, and the first consumer NVMe drive that Crucial has released. It is fundamentally similar...
68 by Billy Tallis on 11/8/2018