Samsung says it has begun the mass production of its 1Tb quad-level cell (QLC) 9th-generation V-NAND, an industry first. The development follows the company's production of triple-level cell (TLC) 9th-generation V-NAND earlier in 2024, and reflects a broader industry shift from TLC to QLC technology to meet the growing demand for higher-capacity and more efficient storage solutions.
The new QLC V-NAND incorporates innovative technologies such as Channel Hole Etching, which enables a higher layer count through a double stack structure, resulting in approximately 86% higher bit density compared to the previous generation of QLC V-NAND. Samsung says the increase in density allows for greater storage capacity in the same physical space, addressing the needs of applications that require large amounts of data storage.
Designed Mold, Predictive Program, and Low-Power Design technologies boost reliability by 20%, double write performance, improve input/output speed by 60%, and reduce power consumption during read and write operations by up to 50%.
A shift from TLC to QLC
The industry is experiencing a shift from TLC to QLC NAND flash memory, driven by the need for higher storage capacities and cost efficiencies. QLC NAND stores four bits per cell instead of three, effectively increasing storage density. This transition enables manufacturers to produce SSDs with larger capacities at potentially lower costs, which is particularly important for data centers and AI applications that require vast amounts of storage.
“Kicking off the successful mass production of QLC 9th-generation V-NAND just four months after the TLC version allows us to offer a full lineup of advanced SSD solutions that address the needs for the AI era,” said SungHoi Hur, Executive Vice President and Head of Flash Product & Technology at Samsung Electronics. “As the enterprise SSD market shows rapid growth with stronger demand for AI applications, we will continue to solidify our leadership in the segment through our QLC and TLC 9th-generation V-NAND.”
Applications of the QLC V-NAND will start with branded consumer products before extending into mobile Universal Flash Storage (UFS), PCs and server SSDs for customers, including cloud service providers.
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