August 25th News – SK Hynix announced that its 321-layer 2Tb QLC NAND flash product has completed development and officially entered mass production. This achievement marks the world’s first application of QLC technology with over 300 layers, setting a new benchmark for NAND storage density. The company plans to formally launch the product in the first half of next year after completing global customer validation.

To enhance the cost competitiveness of the new product, SK Hynix has developed a 2Tb device, which offers double the capacity of existing solutions. To address potential performance degradation in high-capacity NAND, the company also increased the number of planes (independent operation units within the chip) from 4 to 6. This modification enhances parallel processing capabilities, significantly improving synchronous read performance.

As a result, compared with previous QLC products, the 321-layer QLC NAND delivers significant improvements in both capacity and performance: data transfer speed is doubled, write performance is increased by up to 56%, and read performance is improved by 18%. Additionally, write power efficiency is enhanced by more than 23%, further strengthening its competitiveness in AI data centers where ultra-low power consumption is critical.

It is understood that SK Hynix plans to first apply the 321-layer NAND to PC solid-state drives (SSDs), then expand its use to enterprise-grade SSDs (eSSDs) for data centers and UFS storage for smartphones. Leveraging its proprietary 32DP technology – which enables stacking 32 NAND chips in a single package – SK Hynix is expected to achieve double the integration density, enter the ultra-high-capacity eSSD market, and provide services for AI servers.

“With the start of mass production, we have significantly strengthened our high-capacity product portfolio and ensured cost competitiveness,” said Jeong Woopyo, Head of NAND Development at SK Hynix. “As the data center market sees explosive growth in AI demand and rising requirements for high performance, we will make a major leap forward as a full-stack AI storage provider.”