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| SK hynix's 321-layer NAND flash memory chips / Courtesy of SK hynix |
By Baek Byung-yeul
SK hynix unveiled a sample of its 321-layer 4D NAND flash memory chip, marking the industry's first development of a flash memory chip over 300-layer, the company said, Wednesday.
The company added it will begin to mass-produce the 321-layer NAND flash memory chips with 1 terabit capacity in the first half of 2025 in order to better target the rapidly growing AI market that requires high-performance and high-capacity chips.
The memory chip maker made the announcement at this year's Flash Memory Summit, the world's largest flash memory chip event, which is underway in Santa Clara, California.
"Based on the experience of successfully developing the industry's highest 238-layer NAND, which is already in mass production, we are on smooth progress for the development of the 321-layer product," a company spokesperson said. "With another breakthrough to address stacking limitations, SK hynix will open the era of NAND with more than 300 layers and lead the market."
The company said the productivity of the 321-layer product is 59 percent higher than its 238-layer predecessor, with its data storage cells stacked higher, increasing the overall capacity of a single wafer.
With the explosive popularity of ChatGPT, the generative AI market has seen rapid growth, which has increased demand for high-performance and high-capacity memory chips that can process more data faster.
To meet this trend, SK hynix also introduced next-generation NAND products optimized for such AI demand, including enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) that support the PCIe Gen5 interface and UFS 4.0, at the Flash Memory Summit.
The company expects these products to achieve an industry-leading performance to fully meet customer needs with a focus on high performance.
Choi Jung-dal, head of NAND Development at SK hynix, said during a keynote speech that the company expects the ongoing development of the 321-layer product to help solidify its technological leadership in the NAND memory sector.
"With timely introduction of the high-performance and high-capacity NAND, we will strive to meet the requirements of the AI era and continue to lead innovation," Choi said.
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