Intel Teases Upcoming QLC SSD For Datacenters

@Intel has started production of their first datacenter #PCIe #SSD using #QLC #3DNAND #flashmemory, which stores four bits per memory cell. This isn't a full product announcement and we don't even have a proper name for the new SSD, just a mention that it is part of a new D5 product family for datacenters—which may signal a reorganization of Intel's naming scheme for SSDs. Intel will be sharing more information in a few weeks at Flash Memory Summit August 7-9, where Intel VP Rob Crooke is scheduled to give a keynote speech on August 8. Earlier this year, Intel confirmed that they would be producing QLC SSDs in the second half of 2018, and that they were putting up to 20TB in a 2.5" U.2 drive, but it is not yet clear whether that configuration is one that's going into mass production at this time. Intel is expecting this to be the first QLC SSD available for this market segment. Micron has already launched an enterprise SATA SSD using QLC NAND. No consumer SSDs with QLC NAND have been announced yet. Samsung, Toshiba and Western Digital have been talking about their QLC NAND for at least a year, but of them only Toshiba has confirmed plans to mass produce QLC on the current 64L 3D NAND process. Samsung has put off QLC until their 96L generation, which has just entered mass production but only of small TLC dies so far, so they are unlikely to be in mass production of QLC SSDs until late this year or early next year.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13100/intel-teases-upcoming-qlc-ssd-for-datacenters

Intel And Micron: Moore's Law In 3 Dimensions

The non-silicon switching technology in #3DXPoint is priceless. @Intel and @Micron are dropping #3DNAND as a result. But memory will not be the most profitable use of this technology.  After my previous article on Intel ( #INTC ) and Micron ( #MU ), Amazing Powers of Observation, Jim Handy over at Electronic Design penned a similar piece from a very compelling angle. He reaches back to his 2008 prognostication about the scaling of flash memory versus a hypothetical new memory technology. At that time, 3D NAND was not yet a thing so his graph was a projection of planar flash, which was predicted to stop scaling at 10 nanometers. But his logic is still quite valid:  Source: Jim Handy, Objective Analysis January 2008 This article should be read in its entirety. The information presented on this graph dovetails nicely with the point that I was making: flash and DRAM are very near the end of scaling and, at some point very soon, will no longer get cheaper to produce. At this point, the graph should be updated with a big arrow at the flash elbow which indicates that "you are here" and the "new tech" should be renamed to "3D XPoint". Advertisement  What I neglected to realize is that the timing for this point of inflection is also the same for the silicon transistor which sits at the heart of Moore's Law. If there's one thing that I need to summarize as my only real point going all the way back to my first article in 2012, it is that the silicon transistor will reach end of life at 5 nanometers (or 3 nanometers if you fancy TSM (TSM), AMD (AMD), GlobalFoundries, Nvidia (NVDA), or Samsung (OTC:SSNLF) tape measures). While there was some FinFET trickery involved in kicking the silicon can below 28 nanometers, the fact of the matter now is simply that electrons are too big for silicon transistor physics at levels below 5 nanometers. There's nothing left in this bag. Learn to say "Chalcogenide" The non-silicon "chalcogenide" switching technology in 3D XPoint is currently being sold to any off-the-street yokel who wants to pony-up the cash to buy it (less than $50 to start). The utter lack of celebration surrounding this fact is amazing to me because the technology has been under development for more than 60 years with nary a ribbon-cutting, champagne or even cocktail wieners. Over at his regular site, Handy has dug up the original 47-year-old chalcogenide research which was co-authored by Intel founder Gordon Moore. Here's a video of related work performed in 1969 at Iowa State (note that the polarity discussion is incorrect) which illustrates the two basic switching mechanisms involved (Ovonic "threshold" switching and "phase change" switching):  Although I didn't expect it to take this long, I've been chasing chalcogenide technology for almost 20 years, and in that time, I've acquired what I'd regard as a decent level of related knowledge. Recently, I was able to interview a couple of professional researchers - Guy Wicker and Boil Pashmakov - from Ovonic Cognitive Computer in order to further my understanding of the technology. Wicker and Pashmakov were both involved in the seminal 3D XPoint work at Energy Conversion Devices ("ECD") which predated Ovonyx (now owned by Micron) and find their names on dozens of related patents - many of which have Intel or Micron assignments on them. Wicker found himself at Intel Santa Clara in the early 2000s but came back to ECD after they built a much more flexible clean room semiconductor lab at ECD in Metro Detroit. When Pashmakov and Ovshinsky patented a method to use chalcogenides to perform in-memory computation, I was enamored as both an investor and a historian - this technology will fundamentally change the world as soon as we traverse the hockey stick bend in Handy's graph above. Now that Intel and Micron have chalcogenide switching technology in mass production alongside regular silicon, I am finding that the silence is deafening. Regular Joe Six Pack investors will quickly point out that Intel's Optane really isn't that good for as much as it costs.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4146816-intel-micron-moores-law-3-dimensions

SK Hynix Announces New Enterprise SSDs with 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND

@SKHynix has announced they have recently completed the development of an enterprise SATA SSD, marking the company’s entrance into this high value-added market. The new enterprise drive is equipped with 72-Layer 512Gb #3DNAND #flash chips, an in-house firmware and controller, and is offered in a maximum capacity of 4TB. Performance-wise, the SSD is quoted to deliver sequential read and write speed of up to 560MB/s and 515MB/s, respectively, and claims a potential 98,000 random read IOPS and 32,000 random write IOPS coupled. The semiconductor company indicates improved read latency as well. Also announced is the completion of SK Hynix's new enterprise PCIe SSD, which uses the same 72-Layer 3D NAND and offers a capacity of 1TB. This 1TB PCIe SSD has the ability to reach upwards of 2,700MB/s sequential read and 1,100MB/s sequential write and runs random read and write performance of 230,000 IOPS and 35,000 IOPS, respectively. As a reminder, back in 2014 Violin Memory sold off their PCIe flash storage business to SK Hynix for approximately $23 million. Availability SK Hynix is sampling their new SSDs to server and data center clients in the United States.

http://www.storagereview.com/sk_hynix_announces_new_enterprise_ssds_with_72layer_512gb_3d_nand

Intel Q4 Earnings: IoT, NAND & FPGAs Solutions in Spotlight

@Intel Corp. 's INTC initiatives in the Internet of Things ( #IoT), Non-Volatile Memory Solutions and Programmable Solutions Group along with cloud computing is lowering dependence on the PC market. These rapidly-growing market segments present significant prospects for the semiconductor giant in the near future. The company is set to report fourth-quarter 2017 results on Jan 25. Intel Corporation Price and EPS Surprise Intel Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Intel Corporation Quote Click here  to know how the company's overall Q4 performance is expected to be. Segments to Aid Intel's Growth Internet of Things Group (5.3% of revenues) - Revenues jumped 23.2% from the year-ago quarter and 17.9% quarter over quarter to $849 million. Growth can be attributed to strength in industrial, retail and video applications. Intel closed the acquisition of Israel-based Mobileye, an autonomous vehicle technology provider. The deal will help the company to penetrate the $70-billion autonomous driving systems, data and services market. At CES event, the company announced few important partnerships - with BMW, Nissan, Volkswagen AG, and Ferrari - which show Intel's growing dominance in providing AI platforms which will power future vehicles. It will also leverage Intel's Mobileye-based mapping technology for improving self-driving cars navigation process. Intel also joined forces with SAIC Motor and NavInfo to extend crowdsourced map building to China. SAIC Motor will build cars of Level 3, 4, and 5. These vehicles will be powered by Mobileye technology, which means it will be able to handle most driving situations itself. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the Internet of Things Group segment is currently pegged at $859 million. Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group (5.5% of revenues) - Revenues jumped 37.3% year over year and 1.9% sequentially to $891 million. Fab 68, Intel's Dalian factory, continued to beat both ramp rate and yield goal. The factory accounted for more than half of the company's supply in the quarter where more than 70% of the total bits were 3D NAND. Recently, Intel and Micron have announced a mutual agreement to work separately in order to complete development of its third generation of 3D NAND technology. Intel and Micron will jointly develop the 3D XPoint at the Intel-Micron Flash Technologies ("IMFT"). The product, is expected to sample this year, and could enter production as early as 2019 at their joint facility in Lehigh, UT. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group is currently pegged at $938 million. Programmable Solutions Group (2.9% of revenues) - The Altera business is now the Programmable Solutions Group, which increased 10.4% from the year-ago quarter and 6.6% sequentially to $469 million. Strength in advanced products, data center, automotive and military drove top-line growth. Notably, Microsoft is deploying Intel FPGAs to develop the industry's fastest public cloud network and acceleration of deep neural networks. The company had announced that it would use Intel's 14-nm Stratix 10 FPGAs for its accelerated deep-learning platform (Project Brainwave). Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba also selected Intel FPGA's in its Cloud. Moreover, Audi is using Intel's Cyclone V SoC FPGA technology for the Level 3 autonomous driving system in its upcoming A8. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the Programmable Solutions Group is currently pegged at $475 million. Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider Intel carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). NVIDIA Corporation NVDA , Western Digital Corporation WDC and Analog Devices, Inc. ADI are some better-ranked stocks in the same sector. All the three companies carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see  the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. NVIDIA, Western Digital and Analog Devices have a long-term earnings growth rate of 10.3%, 25.1% and 10.4%, respectively. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce ""the world's first trillionaires,"" but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.

http://m.nasdaq.com/article/intel-q4-earnings-iot-nand--fpgas-solutions-in-spotlight-cm909950

Memory chip makers rake in record revenue, hurting their buyers’ profits

Big chip makers such as #Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and #MicronTechnology Inc.­ are raking in record revenue thanks to a global shortage of flash memory. According to a new report on the market from #DRAMeXchange, the memory and storage division of #TrendForceCorp., the long-running shortage of #memorychips is set to continue in a trend whose flip side is a hit to profits of many companies making products as wide-ranging as #smartphones, #computers, #networking gear and #flashstorage arrays. DRAMeXchange said in its latest analysis of the market that NAND flash memory component sales totaled $16.5 billion in the second quarter of this year. That represents a 73 percent year-over-year jump. The previous record for quarterly revenues was set in the first quarter of this year, when NAND Flash memory makers raked in around $14.1 billion in revenues. The profit growth is being driven by an acute global shortage of NAND flash memory, which has come about as memory makers prioritize the production of higher-density 3D NAND chips, CRN.com reported. The shortage has led to flash prices skyrocketing, and has had a major impact on the bottom lines of a number of big technology companies that use NAND Flash as the primary storage medium for hardware such as servers and smartphones, among other things. In the latest quarter, NAND flash component prices for PC and server components rose by about 10 percent, while component prices for mobile devices increased by 5 percent. One of the companies most affected by these rising costs is Super Micro Computer Inc., which recently reported earnings that came up short of analysts’ expectations, resulting in a 10 percent drop in its share price. Super Micro said the blame for its disappointing results could be placed on the rapidly rising cost of flash memory chips. Another company that’s suffering due to the high costs of flash is Cisco Systems Inc. On Wednesday the networking giant reported a 4 percent decline in revenues, which was also partly blamed on the rising cost of Flash. Unfortunately for these companies, things are unlikely to improve in the near term, as DRAMeXchange predicts that NAND Flash component prices will continue rising throughout the year. It said that this was thanks to tight supply resulting from the lack of major fab expansion plans and yield issues with leading-edge processes. “The DRAM market benefited from the upswing in ASPs and continuing progress in suppliers’ technology migrations,” said Avril Wu, research manager of DRAMeXchange. “At the same time, suppliers do not appear to have plans to expand their production capacities in a significant scale between now and the end of the year.” That is, of course, good news for the suppliers themselves, whose operating margins are likely to continue rising. The analyst firm said Samsung was the leading supplier with $7.6 billion in revenues and a 46 percent share of the market, followed by fellow South Korean firm SK Hynix Inc. at $4.5 billion, or 27 percent, and U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc. at $3.6 billion, or 22 percent.

https://siliconangle.com/blog/2017/08/18/flash-memory-makers-rake-record-breaking-profits-back-global-shortage/

Global Semiconductor Capital Equipment Market 2017-2021: Industry Analysis and Forecasts by Technavio

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global semiconductor capital equipment market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 6% during the forecast period. Global semiconductor capital equipment market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% through 2021. Tweet this This research report titled ‘Global Semiconductor Capital Equipment Market 2017-2021’ provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This report also includes an up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions. This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free. The market research analysis categorizes the global semiconductor capital equipment market into three major end-user segments. They are: Foundries Memory manufacturers IDMs Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report Technavio’s sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Foundries The foundries segment dominated the global semiconductor capital equipment market in 2016, with a share of more than 63%. The changing business environment in the semiconductor industry is the major driving factor behind this migration to fabless model. Thus, the semiconductor market will witness a considerable demand for devices such as logic, analog, memory, discrete, opto, sensor, and other semiconductor devices during the forecast period. To meet this demand, foundries need to upgrade their manufacturing and inspection equipment as well as ensure a high throughput of reliable and quality offerings. “The demand for consumer electronic devices will stem from developing countries of APAC like India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Nepal. The high growth potential of these countries in terms of the demand for electronic devices will drive the electronic devices OEMs and electronic manufacturing companies to order a higher number of semiconductor devices for their end-products,” says Chetan Mohan, a lead analyst at Technavio for semiconductor equipment research. Memory manufacturers The growth in the number of microcontroller processes being undertaken in electronic devices has made the memory a vital component of semiconductor devices. Leading market vendors such as #SKHynix, #SanDisk, #Toshiba, and #Samsung have already adopted #3DNAND technology, resulting in further development and commercialization of devices based on 3D NAND architecture. The production of 3D NAND needs new and optimized production equipment due to the complexity involved in its manufacturing. This is compelling chip manufacturing companies such as Samsung, Micron, and Toshiba to revamp and increase their production lines. Also, there are many emerging memory technologies such as magnetic random-access memory ( #MRAM), spin-transfer torque random-access memory ( #STT-RAM), #FeRAM, #phasechangememory ( #PCM), and #resistiverandomaccessmemory ( #RRAM). “The development of new form factors has gained traction in the memory market, and device manufacturers are now demanding memory chips based on transparent and plastic, three-dimensional, and #quantumdot memory technologies. Such developments in the field of memory will create considerable demand for new wafer inspection equipment in the market,” says Chetan. Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) The high migration to the fabless model of manufacturing will restrict the growth of IDMs in relation to the other two types of production facilities. A new IDM requires a very high initial investment, as well as the upgrading cost for such facilities, is relatively significant. This is hindering the development of IDMs as most semiconductor device manufacturers are looking to cut down on the production expenditure and focus more on enhancing the design and technology of the chips. IDMs such as Intel, Texas Instruments, IBM Microelectronics, Toshiba, Sony, Renesas, STMicroelectronics, Fujitsu, Philips, NXP, and Infineon, manufacture integrated devices. The top vendors highlighted by Technavio’s market research analysts in this report are: ASML Applied Materials KLA-Tencor Lam Research Tokyo Electron

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170717006008/en/Global-Semiconductor-Capital-Equipment-Market-2017-2021-Industry

Toshiba Debuts Quadruple-Level Cell 3D Flash

#Samsung isn't the only semiconductor company that's upping its 3D flash game. #Toshiba America Electronic Components this week announced the latest advance in #BiCSFlash, the company's #3DNAND flash technology, setting the stage for higher-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash-based arrays for the data center. Claiming an industry first, Toshiba unveiled its new 4-bit-per-cell, quadruple-level cell (QLC) 3D flash memory chips. Compared to the preceding 3-bit-per-cell, triple-level cell (TLC) technology's die capacity of 512Gb, or 64GB, from Toshiba, the newer, 64-layer QLC BiCS Flash memory technology yields a record-breaking die capacity of 768Gb or 96GB. Using a stacked architecture comprised of 16 dies, Toshiba claims it can deliver 1.5TB of flash-storage capacity in a single package, another record.

http://mobile.enterprisestorageforum.com/storage-technology/toshiba-debuts-quadruple-level-cell-3d-flash.html

Samsung Ramps Up Production on 64-Layer V-NAND Flash Chips

Storage vendors and their customers may soon be entering an era of economical #3DNAND. As the term suggests, 3D NAND enables chipmakers to stack memory cells into vertical layers, allowing them to pack more capacity into smaller chips. #Samsung 's take on it is called #VNAND, and soon the company's fourth-generation version of the flash capacity-enhancing technology is hitting the market in larger quantities. Today, the South Korean electronics giant announce that the company had begun volume production of its 64-layer, 256Gb V-NAND chips. Appearing in limited qualities in Samsung SSDs since January, its new 64-layer V-NAND chip are set to show up in flash storage solutions for servers and other enterprise systems, along with PCs and mobile devices. By the end of the year, Samsung expects 64-layer V-NAND to account for more than half of its NAND flash production, the company said.

http://mobile.enterprisestorageforum.com/storage-hardware/samsung-ramps-up-production-on-64-layer-v-nand-flash-chips.html

Intel Dominates Global Enterprise-Grade SSD Shipments in Q1

Global shipments of enterprise-grade SSDs for the first quarter of 2017 grew against seasonal headwinds by 3-4% compared with the prior quarter to reach around 6 million units, says DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. For the same quarter, enterprise-grade SSDs also represented more than 10% of the total #SSD product shipments worldwide. Currently, U.S.-based #Google, #Facebook and #Microsoft and China’s #Baidu, #Alibaba and #Tencent all have voracious appetite for server systems as they are providing their services via their growing network of data centers. These companies therefore are contributing substantially to the global demand for enterprise-grade SSDs. “Compared with other end applications for #NANDFlash, enterprise-grade SSDs have exhibited strong and dramatic demand growth and will continue to do so this second quarter,” said Alan Chen, senior research manager of DRAMeXchange. #Samsung with its #3DNAND SSDs is quickly catching up to Intel in shipment market share Looking at the competition among first-tier SSD makers, Samsung has quickly captured a significant chunk of the enterprise-grade market with its competitively priced and high performing 3D-NAND SSDs. Samsung’s global market share for enterprise-grade SSDs came to 25% in this first quarter, making the company the second largest supplier worldwide and a major rival to the leader Intel. #Intel, while being the leader enterprise storage solutions, has been feeling the pressure from Samsung. Before the first quarter of 2017, Intel had fallen behind in its development of 3D-NAND SSDs. The company had to offer products that were not as cost competitive as Samsung’s because they were based on older memory manufacturing technologies. To attract customers, Intel not only lowered prices but also emphasized that its SSDs complement its server processors. After persevering into the first quarter of this year, Intel was able to ship its 3D-NAND products in greater volumes. The company’s global market share in enterprise-grade SSD segment therefore returned to above 40% for the first quarter. Third-place Western Digital controls over 20% of the enterprise-grade SSD market owing to its acquisition of SanDisk Western Digital’s shipments of enterprise-grade SSDs has been on the rise since the SanDisk acquisition, and the company became the third-largest supplier worldwide in the first quarter of 2017 with a market share of more than 20%. SanDisk’s product lines have benefited considerably from its parent company’s expertise in enterprise storage as well as the larger client base. At the same time, Western Digital also integrated into its portfolio some specialty products that SanDisk has worked on in the past several years. Following Intel, Samsung and Western Digital are smaller SSD suppliers with respective shipment market shares of less than 5%. Factors that put these smaller competitors behind include the quality of their NAND Flash chips, lack of know-how in developing SSD controller chips and inexperience with the client sampling process. However, Chen pointed out that the competition in the enterprise SSD market is just heating up, and the top three suppliers will face significant challenge in maintaining their dominance. The fast maturation of 3D-NAND manufacturing goes together with SSD suppliers’ consensus that they need to tap into the demand in the enterprise market. Therefore, smaller brands and later market entrants are highly motivated to catch up and put pressure on the leaders. From the aspect of memory architectures and product offerings, Intel during this year’s first half will be shipping mostly enterprise-grade SSDs using 3D-NAND MLC chips. As for the more cost-competitive enterprise products using 3D-NAND TLC chips, Intel will formally release them at the beginning of this third quarter. Samsung, which has been edging close to Intel in the market share ranking, already has more than 80% of its enterprise-grade SSD shipments comprised of products using 3D-NAND TLC chips. With regard to other SSD suppliers, only Micron has started to ship enterprise-grade 3D-NAND SSDs. The rest of the competitors are expected to still mainly offer 2D-NAND products for this year. In terms of the overall market share, DRAMeXchange projects that 3D-NAND products will account for over 50% of the enterprise-grade SSDs shipped worldwide this year.
http://ein.iconnect007.com/index.php/article/104463/intel-took-first-place-in-enterprise-grade-ssd-shipments-worldwide-for-q1/104466/?skin=ein

3D NAND to make up half of all flash memory production

#3DNAND, which stacks layer upon layer of flash cells atop one another like a microscopic skyscraper, will become the prominent technology for all flash memory this year, according to a new report. According to #DRAMeXchange 's latest forecast, #NAND flash manufacturers have focused their efforts on converting fabrication plants to #3DNAND, which is denser, faster and less expensive to produce than traditional 2D (planar) NAND.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3192360/data-storage/3d-nand-to-make-up-half-of-all-flash-memory-production.html

Western Digital ships enterprise SAS-based 3D NAND SSDs

#WesternDigital Corp. is out with its first #3DNAND SAS solid-state drive. Western Digital this week said its 12 Gbps Ultrastar SS300 is shipping to OEM partners who will sell the drives in enterprise storage arrays and servers. The Ultrastar SS300 comes from Western Digital's HGST division and was developed with partner Intel. The SSD is aimed at virtualized systems, high-performance databases, analytics, video production, and private and hybrid cloud deployments.

http://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/news/450419040/Western-Digital-ships-enterprise-SAS-based-3D-NAND-SSDs

Toshiba Shows 64-Layer BiCS FLASH At Dell World

#Toshiba introduced the world to third-generation #3Dflash using #Toggle2 today at Dell World. At the Toshiba booth, you can see firsthand a notebook running #BiCSFLASH--which is Toshiba's name for #3DNAND technology that now sports 64 layers and a massive density that puts a full terabyte of storage into a single die stack. We first tested BiCS FLASH in our initial DRAMless SSD Roundup and believe it's the only third-party test using the technology. The reference design prototype from Phison used second-generation BiCS. That product eventually shipped in a limited number of products, including some Apple iPhones and a Toshiba BGA single package SSD using package on package (PoP) technology for an OEM customer.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/toshiba-third-gen-bics-flash-dell-world,34354.html

3D NAND flash output to increase in 2H 2017

Industry attempts to close global supply shortages According to sources within the memory industry, global production of #3DNAND flash memory chips is expected to expand substantially in the second half of 2017, exceeding the output of 2D NAND chips by the fourth quarter of the year. Sources say that yield rates for major suppliers of 3D NAND technology have been relatively instable since the beginning of 2017. Suppliers including #Samsung Electronics, #Micron, #WesternDigital and #Toshiba have all introduced 64-layer 3D NAND flash products, while #SKHynix recently introduced the industry’s first 72-layer 3D NAND chips. As chipmakers position themselves for increased expansion of 3D NAND output, the output for 2D NAND is expected to be reduced substantially. Samsung, for instance, is expected to begin operating a new plant in Pyeongtaek in July to further expand its 3D NAND production capacity. Micron will start producing 64-layer 3D NAND chips in the second quarter, with mass shipments becoming ready for the second half of the year. The company promises “meaningful output” by the end of their fiscal year in December.

http://www.fudzilla.com/news/memory/43427-3d-nand-flash-output-to-increase-in-2h-2017

Everspin unveils MRAM SSDs aimed at the storage accelerator market

#Intel and its #3DXPoint memory have dominated recent headlines on #NAND flash alternatives, but they’ve never been the only game in town. #Everspin, a company whose technology we’ve covered several times in the past, announced today that they will bring new #MRAM -based drives to market with new partners and commercial relationships. In theory, as we’ve discussed before, MRAM could represent a so-called ‘Holy Grail’ — a non-volatile memory solution that is lower power than DRAM while offering improved performance. MRAM is extremely reliable (much more so than NAND flash) and should be faster than NAND flash, but its storage densities are much lower. Today, Everspin’s densest chips reach 256Mb per die. That’s not particularly large compared with even planar NAND, and the advent of 3D NAND has sent flash densities soaring.

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/245592-everspin-announces-new-commercial-mram-ssds-aimed-storage-accelerator-market

Toshiba Ships Samples Of 3D Flash NAND Capable Of Storing 1TB

#Toshiba has just announced that they will begin shipping samples of its 512 Gigabit, three-bits-per-cell, 64-layer #3DNAND ( #BiCS3D ). Mass production is expected to take place during the second half of 2017. Western Digital and Toshiba engineers have used digital stacking for their sixty-four layers in order to achieve a much larger storage density for its NAND in a smaller footprint. This technology also enables 1TB chip solutions. The flash memory stacked cell structure is best for applications that require high capacity and performance. According to Toshiba, “realizes a 65 percent larger capacity per unit chip size than the company’s 48-layer, 256Gb (32 gigabyte) device. This increases memory capacity per silicon wafer and leads to a reduction of cost-per-bit.”

http://hothardware.com/news/toshiba-ships-samples-of-3d-flash-nand-capable-of-storing-1tb

Toshiba Samples 64-Layer 512 Gb BiCS 3D NAND, Announces 1 TB BGA SSD

#Toshiba on Wednesday said that it had begun to sample its latest #BiCS #3DNAND flash memory chips with 64 word layers and 512 Gb capacity. A co-development project with #WesternDigital, the two companies intend to produce the new ICs (integrated circuits) in high volume sometimes in the second half of this year. Among the first products to use the new chips will be Toshiba’s BGA SSD with 1 TB capacity. Looking at the specifications, Toshiba's 512 Gb (64 GB) 64-layer BiCS 3D NAND will be TLC-based, with the use of TLC being unsurprising here as all makers of non-volatile memory nowadays concentrate on TLC ICs for SSDs. Toshiba as well as its fab and development partner (Western Digital) has not formally revealed the interface speed of their new 512 Gb 3D NAND ICs nor the number of planes per IC, but these are details that the companies are probably going to share when they are ready to ship such devices in high volume (or simply decide to publish their ISSCC presentation from earlier this month). In fact, a 64-layer 3D TLC BiCS NAND chips per se are not a 2017 breakthrough. Western Digital, has been using its 64-layer 3D TLC NAND devices for actual products (e.g., removable media) since November or December. However, those 64-layer 3D TLC NAND ICs have capacity of 256 Gb, whereas the new chips can store 512 Gb of data. Toshiba itself says that its 256 Gb 64-layer BiCS ICs are in high-volume production today. Toshiba and Western Digital said that high-volume manufacturing of their 512 Gb 64-layer devices will commence in the second half of 2017 in Yokkaichi, Japan. The two companies said that the new ICs will help them to address various retail, mobile and data center applications. The latter indicates that the devices will be used not only for removable media and mobile storage, but also for high-end enterprise-class SSDs.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11142/toshiba-samples-64layer-512-gb-bics-3d-nand

Memories Of The Future

At the 2016 #IEEE International Electron Devices ( #IEDM ) Conference in San Francisco several exciting developments were presented that may change the way we keep information in consumer as well as business applications and devices. Although planar (2D) #flashmemory less than 10 nm appears to be off the table, other electronic devices were discussed with 7 nm features (especially FinFETs) and there was even a mention or two of 5 nm features. Let’s look at developments in #NAND as well as emerging memory technologies, such as #MRAM and even #DRAM. In a plenary talk Seok-Hee Lee from SK Hynix spoke about technology scaling challenges and opportunities for memory devices. He said that single-thread CPU performance increases have slowed since 2005 and the cache speeds available for compute cores have been stagnant. As a result the overall delay of computing devices hasn’t improved much recently. He indicated that evolution by itself will not be enough for the future and that memory technology needed to take two revolutionary paths. One of these paths focuses on #highbandwidthmemory and the other on #highcapacitymemory, increasing the complexity of the conventional memory/storage hierarchy.

Below 15 nm 2D flash scaling is about done and we must depend upon #3DNAND for continued #NAND flash advances. 3D NAND needs more efficient cell arrays to reduce the height as cell stacks achieve 100’s of layers. He discussed a concept called Z-scaling to reduce the overall stack height and enabling 356 cell layers. He also discussed the need to include peripheral electronics under the cells to allow more die per wafer. Quad-level cells to increase per cell bit density are another important development. Overall he expected 256 layer NAND flash within 5 years.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomcoughlin/2016/12/08/memories-of-the-future/#5432a5784db6

Samsung ruled the NAND flash market in Q3 2016

The #GalaxyNote7 may have been a catastrophe for #Samsung ’s mobile division in the previous quarter but the company’s other divisions saw tremendous growth during the same period. A new report from market research firm #DRAMeXchange shows that #SamsungElectronics ruled the #NAND flash market in the third quarter of this year. Samsung has been investing heavily in this space to maintain dominance. Earlier this year the company expanded #3DNAND flash memory manufacturing facilities in Xi’an, China and Hwaseong, South Korea. Samsung is also setting up a new facility in Pyeongtaek, South Korea to further increase production. The company started manufacturing 64-layer NAND flash memory chips this month and given the rapid rise in demand for solid state drives that use these chips, increasing production rapidly works in Samsung’s favor. Samsung Electronics brought in $3.744 billion in 3D NAND flash memory sales in Q3 2016, it has a market share of 36.6 percent. Toshiba comes in second place with a 19.8 percent market share while Western Digital and SK Hynix follow in third and fourth place with 17.1 percent and 10.4 percent market share respectively.

http://www.sammobile.com/2016/12/05/samsung-ruled-the-nand-flash-market-in-q3-2016/

Zadara, Intel Partner on Flash Storage

PRESS RELEASE — IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- #Zadara™ Storage, the award-winning provider of enterprise-class Storage-as-a-Service( #STaaS ) today announced that their Zadara Storage Cloud will offer Intel®-based, flash storage solutions providing industry-leading flash performance in a pure-OpEx-based model – however at prices that rival traditional hard disk drive configurations. As the market continues to abandon traditional CapEx-based storage and move at an increasing rate toward OpEx-based Storage-as-a-Service, Zadara Storage has teamed with Intel to provide new industry-leading flash-enabled solutions to address the insatiable demand for high-performance storage. The new solutions combine Intel PCSD servers, #Intel Xeon® E5 v4 processors and Intel SSDs based on the new Intel® #3DNAND technology with the Zadara Storage Cloud software architecture. The resulting solutions enable both service providers and enterprise customers to enjoy unprecedented flexibility, scalability and performance. In a move that will accelerate market momentum away from HDD-based offerings, Zadara is now offering new flash-based solutions at price-parity with existing HDD products
http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/news/2016/11/zadara-intel-partner-on-flash-storage.aspx

IBM Bluemix to offer Intel 3D XPoint-powered cloud in late 2017

#IBM has quietly revealed that in “In the second half of 2017” its #Bluemix cloud will offer “a broad services suite fuelled by #Intel #Optane ”.' “Optane” is Intel's official name for #3DXpoint, its non-volatile memory that's faster than #NAND Flash, persistent and therefore a very interesting alternative to both random access memory and mass storage media. Intel has said it will derive revenue from Optane sales this year, but shipments aren't expected to flow until early 2017. It's widely accepted that once Optane and rival storage-class non-volatile memory arrives it will spark a rethink of how we build applications, servers, storage and networks. But because no plan survives contact with the enemy, figuring out just what will need to change is largely a speculative venture. Some opine that Optane will mean servers will have such rapid access to data that networks will become a bottleneck. Others The Register has encountered suggest that Optane and its ilk could become a new tier of RAM. The Gen-Z alliance of #Dell, #HPE, #IBM, #ARM, #Samsung and pals even suggest a memory fabric is needed, perhaps alongside boxes that do nothing but provide memory to servers in the same rack. IBM's silent on just what its Optane cloud will offer, but has given us a hint by also announcing it's cooked up a cloudy Optane testbed that will feature Lenovo servers stuffed to the gills with Intel's new offering. Big Blue says the testbed is intended for “end users and software vendors looking to discover new innovations as well as test and optimise applications.” Interested? Express interest at ssdtestbed@intel.com ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/04/ibm_bluemix_to_offer_3d_xpointpowered_cloud_in_late_2017/