SK hynix starts mass production of new QLC NAND flash with higher density

This photo provided by SK hynix on Monday, shows the company's 321-layer 2Tb QLC1 NAND flash. Courtesy of SK hynix

Korean chipmaker SK hynix said Monday it has begun mass production of a new quadruple level cell (QLC) NAND flash to address the growing need for high-performance products in the artificial intelligence sector (AI).

The 321-layer 2Tb QLC1 NAND flash product has doubled the data transfer speed, with writing and reading performance also rising 56 percent and 18 percent, respectively, according to the company.

"This achievement marks the world's first implementation of more than 300 layers using QLC technology, setting a new benchmark in NAND density," SK hynix said.

"The company plans to release the product in the first half of next year following completion of global customer validation," it added.

SK hynix said it developed the 2Tb device to maximize cost competitiveness. The new product also paves the way for greater parallel processing and significantly enhances simultaneous read performance.

NAND flash memory products are widely used in smartphones and laptops. Unlike mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM), flash memory can preserve data even when it has no power supply.

"With the start of mass production, we have significantly strengthened our high-capacity product portfolio and secured cost competitiveness," said Jeong Woop-yo, who leads SK hynix's NAND development.

"We will make a major leap forward as a full-stack AI memory provider, in line with the explosive growth in AI demand and high-performance requirements in the data center market," he added.