NAND Layer Count Surpasses 200, Intensifying Stacking Competition... 'What Really Matters?'
SK Hynix Ignites Industry Competition by Announcing Development of 238-Layer NAND
NAND with Over 200 Layers Expected to Exceed 10% Share by End of Next Year
Anticipation Outweighs Stacking Competition Fatigue... "World's First Holds Great Significance"
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Pyeonghwa] The competition in NAND flash stacking in the memory semiconductor industry is heading towards 200 layers. As competitors such as SK Hynix and Micron Technology are concretizing their mass production plans at 200 layers, attention is focused on Samsung Electronics, the industry leader. It is forecasted that by the end of next year, the proportion of NAND flash products exceeding 200 layers will surpass 10% of the entire NAND flash market. Since NAND flash stacking is a measure of technological prowess, the competition appears to be intensifying rapidly.
The Level of NAND Flash Stacking as a Barometer of Technological Capability
At a semiconductor event held this month in Santa Clara, USA, a presentation by a Korean company attracted significant attention. The protagonist was SK Hynix. SK Hynix announced at the event that it had succeeded in developing 238-layer NAND flash and predicted mass production in the first half of next year. SK Hynix’s announcement drew attention because it was a ‘world first’ achievement in the fiercely competitive NAND flash market. SK Hynix emphasized that it implemented the smallest-sized product at the highest layer of NAND flash.
NAND flash is a type of memory semiconductor. Semiconductors are generally divided into memory semiconductors and non-memory (system) semiconductors, with memory semiconductors used for information storage as the name suggests. This differs from system semiconductors, which are used for information processing such as computation. A representative example of system semiconductors is the CPU.
In the case of NAND flash, since it stores and deletes data even when power is off, it is widely used in products such as mobile phones and PCs that we use. Data is stored in cells, and the layers of cells stacked on top of each other are called “layers” (dan). This is why expressions like “stacked several layers” are commonly seen in NAND flash-related articles.
The method of stacking NAND flash cells vertically (V) became common in the 2010s. After Samsung Electronics introduced 23-layer V-NAND in 2013, the stacking competition in the semiconductor industry began in earnest. The higher the stacking, the more data storage space can be increased, making it an unparalleled contest to showcase technological prowess.
In the initial competition, Samsung Electronics was the frontrunner. Samsung Electronics has shown various achievements, including being the first in the world to mass-produce NAND flash with over 100 layers. As a result, Samsung Electronics was able to expand its influence as the number one player in the NAND flash market with technological superiority. Of course, Samsung Electronics remains the top player to this day.
Recently, the stacking competition has intensified due to fierce pursuit by latecomers. Especially, Micron, the fifth-largest player in the market, is aggressive. After releasing the world’s first 176-layer NAND flash in 2020, it announced plans last month to mass-produce 232-layer NAND flash in less than two years. It is regarded as the most aggressive player for the world-first title, and since SK Hynix unveiled its 238-layer product just one month after its announcement, the competition is inevitably accelerating.
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SK Hynix plans to first supply the 238-layer NAND flash, which will be mass-produced next year, to client solid-state drives (cSSD) used as PC storage devices. It also looks forward to supplying high-capacity SSDs for servers and products for smartphones.
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