Intel’s 3D NAND technology could complete change the SSD market

Intel plans to ship 3D NAND flash chips next year that will allow it to cram more bits into solid-state storage. Its 3D NAND will have twice the density of competing products on the market now, Intel claims. Samsung, a key rival, is already on its second generation of SSDs built with 3D technology. 3D NAND has multiple layers of transistors stacked on top of each other in a cube. Intel’s chips will have 32 layers. Samsung is shipping SSDs made with 32-layer flash, but Intel says its products will hold twice as many bits: 256 billion bits on a single die using MLC (multilevel cell), the most common form of flash. Flash storage is much faster and more power-efficient than spinning disks but remains more expensive to manufacture. By doubling the capacity of a single die, Intel thinks it can achieve a breakthrough in the cost of flash so it can go into a wider range of systems. Products that already use flash will be able to have more storage for a given price.