'Opening a New Era of NAND' SK Hynix to Mass-Produce 321-Layer NAND in 2025 (Comprehensive)

SK Hynix Exhibits 321-Layer NAND Samples in the US
59% Productivity Improvement Over 238-Layer NAND
Samsung Unveils Highest Performance SSD for Data Centers

SK Hynix announced that it will mass-produce 321-layer 4-dimensional (4D) NAND flash in the first half of 2025. This demonstrates its technological prowess by signaling a breakthrough beyond the 300-layer limit in the fiercely competitive NAND stacking industry, where the 200-layer class competition is intense. Samsung Electronics announced that it will mass-produce the industry's highest-performance data center solid-state drive (SSD) based on the latest 8th generation V-NAND within this year.

On the 8th (local time), SK Hynix participated in the Flash Memory Summit (FMS) 2023 held in Santa Clara, California, USA, where it announced the development progress of the '321-layer 1-terabit (Tb) triple-level cell (TLC) 4D NAND' and exhibited samples in the development stage. This is the first time the company has officially announced the development of NAND with more than 300 layers and showcased samples.

FMS is the largest NAND industry conference held annually in Santa Clara. Not only NAND manufacturers but also related companies and organizations participate every year to discuss the latest technologies and industry trends. SK Hynix chose FMS as the venue to showcase its NAND technological capabilities.

Last August, SK Hynix first announced at FMS that it had developed 238-layer 512-gigabit (Gb) TLC 4D NAND. In just one year, at the same event, it demonstrated its technological prowess by presenting a 321-layer NAND sample with 59% higher productivity than the 238-layer NAND. It also shared detailed plans to mass-produce the product in the first half of 2025.

Choi Jeong-dal, Vice President of SK Hynix (in charge of NAND development), said, "We plan to solidify our NAND technology leadership by developing 4D 321-layer NAND," adding, "We will lead innovation by proactively introducing high-performance, high-capacity NAND required in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to the market."

NAND increases capacity by stacking cells that store data layer upon layer, so the stacking level is considered a key technological competitiveness factor. The more layers stacked, the greater the total capacity that can be produced from a single wafer, which also provides significant advantages in productivity. This is why the stacking competition among NAND manufacturers is fierce.

The nature of the NAND market, which has 5 to 6 major players, also fuels competition. Currently, the competition in the 200-layer class is active. Following Micron in the U.S. starting mass production of 232-layer NAND last year, Samsung Electronics began mass production of the 8th generation V-NAND (estimated 236 layers) in November last year. SK Hynix has been mass-producing 238-layer NAND since May. Japan's Kioxia and the U.S.'s Western Digital have announced plans to mass-produce 218-layer NAND this year.

This year at FMS, Samsung Electronics introduced a new solid-state drive (SSD) equipped with 8th generation V-NAND, a large-capacity auxiliary storage device. The 'PM9D3a' is a PCIe (next-generation interface standard supporting high-speed data input/output) 5.0 data center SSD with industry-leading performance, offering twice the random write performance and 60% higher power efficiency compared to the previous generation product.

Samsung Electronics plans to start mass production within this year and introduce various lineups in the future. It also announced plans to focus on solving challenges faced by the server storage market going forward. Song Yong-ho, Vice President of Samsung Electronics Memory Business Division, said, "We will prioritize enhancing customer experience and collaborate comprehensively to provide optimal memory solutions."