World’s First
SK Hynix announced on April 10 that it developed the world’s first 72-layer 256 Gb triple level cell 3D NAND flash chip and is planning to manufacture it in its facilities located in Cheongju, South Korea from the second half of this year. This type of chip has a storage capacity of 32 GB.
According to the company, the productivity of the new product is 130% of that of the 48-layer chip it is currently producing and its internal operation speed is 200% and its reading and writing performance is 120% based on the high-speed circuit design in the chip. The company came up with 24-layer chips in the second quarter of 2014, 36-layer 128 Gb chips in the second half of last year and 48-layer 256 Gb chips in November last year.
With the new product, SK Hynix is expected to be able to catch up with Toshiba and Micron Technology. According to industry sources, Toshiba is going to begin to produce 64-layer 512 Gb products in the latter half of this year, followed by Micron Technology late this year. Samsung Electronics started the mass production of 64-layer 3D V NAND chips in December last year.
As of the end of last year, Samsung Electronics recorded a share of 35.1% in the global NAND flash market, followed by Toshiba (17.4%), Western Digital (15.7%), Micron Technology (12.3%) and SK Hynix (10.3%). SK Hynix is planning to apply its latest product to NAND flash solutions for mobile devices and solid state drives and increase the ratio of its NAND flash memory products to its total sales at a rapid pace from the current level of 25%.
According to market research firm Gartner, the size of the global NAND flash market is estimated to reach US$46.5 billion this year and US$56.5 billion in 2021.