Automotive Market Storage
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will showcase next-generation memory solutions at the world’s largest flash memory semiconductor event in the United States.
The two Korean companies will participate in the Flash Memory Summit 2023, which will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center on Aug. 8-10 (local time), according to industry sources on Aug. 7.
While the 2022 Flash Memory Summit focused on technology trends in the data center, this year, the event will zero in on storage trends in the automotive market, which is emerging along with artificial intelligence (AI). In addition to topics related to three-dimensional NAND processes and memory technology, there will be discussions on packaging technologies such as chiplet technology that integrates multiple semiconductors into a single package, high-bandwidth memory (HBM) technology, and the CHIPS Act of the United States, a hot topic in the semiconductor industry.
SK hynix made a splash here in 2022 when it introduced the world’s first 238-gigabit NAND flash. Samsung Electronics unveiled a 1 petabyte storage solution that increases the storage capacity of servers by five times. It also introduced a memory-semantic solid-state drive (SSD) for AI based on CXL, a next-generation interface with a plan to mass-produce 8th-generation V-NAND flash. Experts expect the V-NAND flash to be 236 gigabits. In November of the same year, Samsung Electronics began mass-producing 8th-generation V-NAND flash.
Korean NAND flash makers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will deliver keynote speeches this year as they did in 2022. They will also have booths during the event to showcase their latest products.
Industry insiders have much anticipation for new technologies, which Samsung and SK hynix will announce at this year’s event.
First of all, Samsung Electronics is aiming to mass-produce 9th generation V-NAND flash in 2024 and develop a 1,000-layer V-NAND flash by 2030. At this year’s event, the company is likely to showcase its next-generation memory solutions for the artificial intelligence (AI) era. It will also unveil technologies related to Compute Express Link, a newly proposed interface to better utilize accelerators, memory, and storage devices used in conjunction with CPUs in high-performance computing systems. The Korean semiconductor giant will also introduce technologies that provide advanced security features to enhance data protection in mass storage devices.
This year, Song Yong-ho, vice president of the Solution Development Office at Samsung Electronics, will deliver a 30-minute keynote address on the topic of optimized memory solutions for the AI era on Aug. 8.
From SK hynix, Ahn Hyun, vice president of solution development, and Choi Jung-dal, vice president of NAND flash development, will also deliver keynote addresses on Aug. 8. They will make presentations for 30 minutes on the topic of industry-leading 4D NAND technology and solutions for the AI era.
In May, SK hynix began mass-producing the industry’s highest-end 238-layer 4D NAND flash, which has the largest number of layers in the world, compared to a 236-layer product from Samsung, the market leader in NAND flash, and a 232-layer product from Micron in the United States. Previously, the world’s highest-end NAND flash was a 236-layer product. Just in March, Kioxia and Western Digital jointly developed 218-layer NAND flash memory modules and plan to mass-produce them within this year.
SK hynix also introduced the industry’s first 4D structure. The chipmaker introduced a technology called “Peri Under Cell (PUC),” which maximizes space efficiency by embedding circuits under cells, which are an information storage unit of NAND flash. This has the advantage of allowing more cells to be integrated vertically and horizontally.
“With the launch of ultra-high-performance UFS 4.0 and PCle 5th-generation SSD products for data centers based on our superiority in 4D NAND flash technology, we are consolidating our leadership in 5th-generation PCle SSDs for mobile PCs,” an SK hynix official said. “As we are entering the era of multimodal AI from data centers, smartphones, and autonomous vehicles, we will strive to lead the technological innovation of PCle 6th-generation SSDs and UFS 5.0 memory-based products, which are the next generation of data center technologies.”
A representative from SK hynix’s subsidiary Solidigm will also deliver a keynote speech and showcase its products in the event. Solidigm develops SSDs that utilize flash memory to store large amounts of information. The keynote speech will be delivered by Dr. Robert Frickey, an executive-level fellow in charge of SSD product development.
Frickey will make a presentation on the rapidly changing landscape of storage technology and introduce quadruple-level cell (QLC) technology. QLC is the latest technology to offer the highest number of bits that can be stored per cell. Solidigm made headlines in July by taking the wraps off the world’s largest capacity ALC-based SSD for data centers.