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If you’ve ever owned a digital music player, loaded saved progress on a gaming console, or used a smartphone—you’ve used flash storage. Each of these devices, plus countless others, have the same dependable memory tech at their core.

As the name suggests, flash storage runs extremely fast; it also retains information when a device is powered off and is easily rewriteable. As our devices become smarter and generate more data, fast and flexible memory solutions are in high demand. Set to be the next “big thing” in storage, let’s take a closer look at the ever-evolving, advanced semiconductor memory solution.

Great Things Come in Small Packages

Once considered quite the splurge, flash storage, including both NAND and NOR-based solutions, revolutionized not only the way we live but also how our devices operate. The real tech breakthrough facilitated by flash was the ability to store massive volumes of data in a tiny chip, reducing the size restrictions imposed by earlier storage components.

Recognizing the opportunity early on, SK hynix has been able to bolster its technological leadership by delivering the world’s first NAND flash solutions time and time again. Innovating smaller, faster, and lower energy-consuming storage components solidifies the company’s prime position in the market and provides meaningful solutions for the technological demands and environmentally conscious agendas of the ever-expanding tech sector.

SK hynix’s 176-layer NAND flash increases bit productivity by 35% compared to previous generation

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Each evolution of NAND flash memory has increased storage capacity through the formation of smaller active and gate using lateral scaling. Now developing 4D-NAND, SK hynix hi-gineers formed a peripheral circuit under the 3D-NAND cell, maximizing the chip’s storage capacity and lowering the cost. SK hynix premiered the world’s first 176-layer 4D NAND flash, the third generation of NAND flash product securing the industry’s best number of chips per wafer. This increasingly multi-layered technology supports the development of higher-capacity mobile devices such as terabyte-boasting smartphones and laptop computers with incredible storage capabilities.

More than a “Flash” in the Pan

Increasing the storage capacity of our devices is critical to continue to evolve technology in a manner that meets the needs of today’s society. In response to the recent pandemic, society has become increasingly dependent on digital technology. Retreating to our homes, transitioning to remote work, and relying on digital means to stay connected created a need for smart digital solutions capable of managing data volumes considerably larger than any other time in recent history.

Volume of data/information created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide from 2010 to 2025

The volume of data globally grew by more than 56% at the onset of the pandemic

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Increased demand for data centers and cloud-based server solutions has been mirrored by increased demand for efficient NAND flash solutions. The applications for NAND flash are also becoming more diverse. The list of possible uses is growing in step with demand; the technology is appearing in more than just mobile devices but enterprise SSDs and automotive technology too.

Flash-Forward to the Future

To truly harness the potential of NAND flash, the industry needs to improve materials and design structures, anticipating the next technical evolution of flash memory. One of SK hynix’s main areas of focus is securing etching technology able to realize the high-density requirements of the industry to capture opportunities like replacing HDDs in data centers with SSDs. It is predicted that it will be possible to stack over 600 layers of NAND in the future, making the application of flash virtually limitless.

SK hynix innovates for a greener future by optimizing technology through the lens of social value

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In addition to rising technological challenges and demands, the industry now faces a new mission of responding to social and environmental concerns, including its consumption of energy and other essential resources. Advancing both the technology and its production methods can lower the industry’s carbon footprint and build a more sustainable product for use in eco-friendly technologies.

Looking to the future, SK hynix predicts a truly smart world will come to fruition alongside semiconductor memory solutions, like NAND flash, that converge storage with logic to overcome performance limitations, allowing ultra-high-speed computation and storage possible in one place with lower energy demand.

SK hynix is committed to continuously evolving and advancing the memory semiconductor industry strategically to better answer the demand of novel technologies. Built better, built smarter, and built greener, advanced semiconductor memory solutions are sure to meet the global community’s needs in a flash.

The post All in a Flash: How Flash Storage Changed the Way We Live first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Industry-leading Capacity with the Highest Density has been realized

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In June 2019, SK hynix succeeded in developing and mass producing the world’s first 128-layer 1Tbit Triple Level Cell (TLC) 4D NAND Flash.

This 128-layer NAND Flash is a TLC, the industry’s main product accounting for more than 85% of the NAND market, and currently holds the industry’s highest capacity of 1Tb. While other companies have developed 1Tb NAND products by building up a 96-layer Quadruple Level Cell (QLC), SK hynix is the first to commercialize the ultra-high-capacity NAND through TLC, achieving better performance and faster processing speed than QLC.

This exclusive SK hynix product also offers record-breaking vertical stacking that amounts to more than 360 billion NAND cells, each of which stores 3 bits per chip. Compared to existing 96-layer 4D NAND chips, a same-sized chip has 30% higher storage capacity, while reducing data read and write speed by 16%. What’s more, it also increases bit productivity per wafer by 40%, and the investment cost that comes with transitioning from 96-Layer to 128-Layer NAND has been reduced by 60% when compared to previous notable technology migrations.

Achieving a Next-gen Upgrade in just Eight Months

Representing a big step forward in the sector, this achievement took only eight months to develop from the time 96-layer TLC 4D NAND, its predecessor, was introduced. In October 2018, SK hynix succeeded in developing the world’s first Charge Trap Flash (CTF) based 4D NAND Flash* platform.

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This innovative platform is how SK hynix significantly reduced the time required for developing new products to just eight months. Maintaining the same platform utilized for the 96-layer 4D NAND process, SK hynix focused on core processes and design technologies essential to increasing layers, resulting in the product’s successful development in such a short time. This will also be used as the platform for 176-layer 4D NAND, which SK Hynix plans to develop further. Considered among SK hynix’s greatest successes where SK hynix secured the fundamental competitiveness in the NAND sector, it goes beyond simply improving the company’s production and investment efficiency.

Highly Applicable as a High-Speed, High-Capacity Storage

Utilizing the 128-layer 4D NAND Flash, SK hynix plans to launch various cutting-edge solutions from 2020.

During the first half of next year, SK hynix plans to develop a next-generation UFS 3.1 product fully compatible with 5G flagship smartphones. When utilizing this product, the number of NANDs required to make 1TB – the largest smartphone capacity to date – products possible, will be cut in half when compared to 512Gb NANDs. This makes for a mobile solution that consumes 20% less power and is 1mm-less thick. If 16 units of the 128-layer 1Tb 4D NAND are formed into one single semiconductor package, even a 5G smartphone of 2TB storage capacity – the largest ever in the industry – will be available.

Furthermore, SK hynix will start mass producing 2TB consumer SSDs with a built-in controller and software, during the first half of next year (2020). Based on its power efficiency, which is 20% more than the previous generation, 16TB and 32TB Non Volatile Memory express (NVMe) SSDs for cutting-edge cloud data centers optimized for AI and big data will also be released next year.

The post Evolution of 4D NAND Flash Opens the Era of Terabyte Smartphones first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

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Seoul, November 4, 2018

SK hynix Inc. (or ‘the Company’, www.skhynix.com) launched the world’s first 96-Layer 512Gb (Gigabit) ‘CTF based 4D (Four-Dimensional) NAND Flash (4D NAND)’ based on its TLC (Triple-Level Cell) arrays, using 3D CTF (Charge Trap Flash) design paired with the PUC (Peri. Under Cell) technology. The Company will start the early stage of mass production of the 96-Layer 4D NAND within this year. A single 512Gb NAND Flash chip can represent 64GB (Gigabytes) storage.

SK hynix combined its 3D CTF with PUC for the first time in the industry, which is different from the way of integrating 3D Floating Gate and PUC. As a result, it attained the industry’s finest performance and productivity. The Company named the product ‘CTF-based 4D NAND Flash’ to distinguish it from current 3D NAND Flash technologies.

The 4D NAND chip reduces more than 30% of chip size and increases bit productivity per wafer by 49% compared to the Company’s 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND. Moreover, the product has 30% higher write and 25% higher read performance. Also, its data bandwidth is doubled to the industry’s biggest 64KB (Kilobytes). With the introduction of a multiple gate insulators architecture, its data I/O (Input Output) speed reaches 1,200Mbps (Megabits/sec) at 1.2V (Volt) of operation power.

In August, SK hynix already announced that it would enhance the solution market competence with various 4D NAND applications at FMS(Flash Memory Summit) 2018 held in Santa Clara, CA.

Above all, with the 96-Layer 512Gb 4D NAND, SK hynix will introduce 1TB (Terabyte) client SSDs equipped with the Company’s own controllers and firmware within this year. Plus, the enterprise SSDs will be introduced in the second half of 2019. SK hynix will also respond to the high density mobile market with the introduction of UFS (Universal Flash Storage) 3.0 in the first half of 2019. Furthermore, the Company will roll out ultra-high density 96-Layer 1Tb (Terabit) TLC and QLC (Quad-Level Cell) in 2019.

“This 96-Layer CTF-based 4D NAND, with the industry’s top cost competitiveness and performance, will become a milestone in the Company’s NAND Flash business, as a platform in developing future products,” said vice president J.T. Kim, the Head of NAND Marketing. “The Company plans to start the early stage mass production of it within this year and further expand the production in M15 to actively respond to a variety of clients,” he added.

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Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
Public Relations

Assistant Manager
Heeyoung Son
Phone: +82.31.8093.4719
E-Mail: heeyoung.son@sk.com

Assistant Manager
Hyun Kyung Olivia Lee
Phone: +82.31.8093.4771
E-Mail: hyunkyung14.lee@sk.com

The post SK hynix Inc. Launches the World’s First ‘CTF-based 4D NAND Flash’ (96-Layer 512Gb TLC) first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

SK hynix Inc. (or ‘the Company’, www.skhynix.com) today announced that the Company recently completed developing an enterprise SATA Solid State Drive (or ‘eSSD’). With its 72-Layer 512Gb (Gigabits) 3D NAND Flash chips, the Company is paving the way for its full-fledged entrance to the high value-added eSSD market.

SK hynix combined the 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND Flash with its in-house firmware and controller to provide the maximum density of 4TB (Terabytes). SK Hynix makes the most of its 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND chips to double the biggest density of the SSD of the same size with 256Gb NAND chips.

A single 4TB SSD could contain 200 UHD (Ultra-HD) movies, each of which is generally as large as approximately 20GB (Gigabytes). The new eSSD supports sequential read and write speed of up to 560MB/s (Megabytes per second) and 515MB/s, respectively, and it can perform 98,000 random read IOPS (Input/Output operations per second) and 32,000 random write IOPS. SK hynix also improved the read latency, which is of the utmost importance in eSSD performance. The Company is sampling the product to server and data center clients in the United States.

The Company also finished developing enterprise PCIe (PCI Express) SSD and is shipping samples to server and data center clients. The PCIe SSD will also use the 72-Layer 3D NAND and have a capacity of more than 1TB. The 1TB PCIe SSD operates at 2,700MB/s and 1,100MB/s of sequential read/write speed and runs random read/write performance of 230,000 IOPS and 35,000 IOPS.

“SK hynix started mass-producing Client SSD with its 3D NAND chips and in-house firmware and controller last year. Now we have expanded our SSD business portfolio with the development of eSSD,” said Jin Kang, the Head of NAND Planning and Enabling. “The Company plans to actively meet growing eSSD market demands to contribute to enhancing its profitability in NAND Flash business” he added.

According to IHS Markit, the SSD market revenue is expected to total USD 25.1 billion in 2017 and post a continuous annual growth of 5.6% to total 31.2 billion in 2021. Especially, the revenue of the enterprise SSD will lead the market growth by rising from USD 13.4 billion to 17.6 billon at a CAGR of 7% during the same period.

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Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
Public Relations

Assistant Manager
Heeyoung Son
Phone: +82.31.8093.4719
E-Mail: heeyoung.son@sk.com

Assistant Manager
Hyun Kyung Olivia Lee
Phone: +82.31.8093.4771
E-Mail: hyunkyung14.lee@sk.com

The post SK hynix Inc. Ramps Up Enterprise SSDs with its 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND Flash first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

SK hynix Inc. today introduced the industry’s first 72-Layer 256Gb(Gigabit) 3D(Three-Dimensional) NAND Flash based on its TLC(Triple-Level Cell) arrays and own technologies. The Company stacks 1.5 times more cells for the 72-Layer 3D NAND than it does for the 48-Layer 3D which is already in mass production. A single 256Gb NAND Flash chip can represent 32GB(Gigabytes) storage.

SK hynix launched 36-Layer 128Gb 3D NAND chips in April 2016, and has been mass producing 48-Layer 256Gb 3D NAND chips since November 2016. In just 5 months, the Company has developed the 72-Layer 256Gb 3D NAND chips, securing the industry’s finest product portfolio.

The technological achievement of this 72-Layer 256Gb 3D NAND compares figuratively to the difficulty of stacking approximately 4 billion 72-storied skyscrapers on a dime. The chip also achieves approximately 30 percent more manufacturing productivity over its predecessor 48-Layer by stacking 1.5 times more cells and utilizing existing mass production facilities. Also by bringing high-speed circuit design into the new chip, its internal operation speed is two times faster and read/write performance is 20 percent higher than a 48-Layer 3D NAND chip.

With this new 72-Layer 3D NAND chips having 30% more efficiency in productivity and 20% higher performance, SK hynix has been currently developing NAND Flash solutions such as SSD(Solid State Drive) and storage for mobile devices such as smart phones. With the improved performance, high reliability and low power consumption, the Company looks forward to solidifying its business competence in the 3D NAND memory solutions.

“With the introduction of this industry’s highest productivity 3D NAND, SK hynix will mass produce the 256Gb 3D NAND in the second half of this year to provide this to worldwide business clients for optimum use in storage solutions” said vice president Jong Ho Kim, the Head of Marketing Division. “The Company plans to expand the usage of the product to SSDs and mobile gadgets such as smart phones to further improve its business structure weighted towards DRAM” he added.

3D NAND demand will rapidly increase across AI(Artificial Intelligence), big data and cloud storage in the 4th industrial revolution. According to Gartner, NAND Flash market revenue is expected to total USD 46.5 billion in this year and post continuous growth to amount to USD 56.5 billion in 2021.

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Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
Public Relations

Assistant Manager
Heeyoung Son
Phone: +82.31.8093.4719
E-Mail: heeyoung.son@sk.com

The post SK hynix Inc. Introduces Industry’s Highest 72-Layer 3D NAND Flash first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Seoul, December 22, 2016

K hynix Inc.(‘the Company’, www.skhynix.com) announced it will construct a new memory semiconductor FAB in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do to meet increasing NAND Flash demand. This is a part of a mid/long-term investment plan that SK hynix declared at M14 completion ceremony in August 2015. At that time, the Company said it could spend 46 trillion won to set up 3 new FABs in Icheon and Cheongju including the M14.

The new FAB will be located in a Cheongju Technopolis site. SK hynix starts a design within next month then begins construction of the shell and the cleanroom in August 2017 to be completed in June 2019 with total investment of 2.2 trillion won. Equipment installation into the FAB shall be decided considering market conditions as well as the Company’s migration plans.

SK hynix has been expanding its NAND Flash manufacturing FAB in Cheongju since the completion of which in 2008. Plus, it starts to utilize the upper floor of the M14 to manufacture 3D NAND Flash from next year. Nevertheless, in order to grow further, it is important to secure production facilities in advance to deal with NAND Flash market growth to be led by 3D NAND solutions. Additionally, considering it takes more than 2 years normally to build a semiconductor FAB, the Company has determined to build the additional FAB as a result.

“The new FAB to be constructed in Cheongju will become a part of our key production facilities to gear up for the upcoming fourth industrial revolution,” said Sung Wook Park, CEO of SK hynix, “Sincerely appreciate great assistance from the National, Chungcheongbuk-do and Cheongju government officials in the construction of the new FAB at a proper time,” he added.

Meanwhile, SK hynix plans to invest additionally in present Wuxi DRAM FAB to maintain its competitiveness in productivity. The Wuxi FAB has been contributing to the Company’s growth since its operation start in 2006, currently representing a half of the Company’s total DRAM production. Reduction of manufacturing efficiency is inevitable due to space insufficiency considering the increasing number of process steps due to process technology migration which requires more floor space. Hence, to make up for the possible loss of wafer capacity, the Company has decided to expand the Wuxi cleanroom space with total investment of 950 billion won from July 2017 to April 2019. With the investment, the Company plans to retain its competence in productivity and lead in DRAM industry.

About SK hynix Inc.

SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world’s top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”), Flash memory chips (“NAND Flash”) and CMOS Image Sensors (“CIS”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com.

Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
Public Relations

Assistant Manager
Heeyoung Son
Phone: +82.31.8093.4719
E-Mail: heeyoung.son@sk.com

The post SK hynix Inc. to Construct a Cutting Edge NAND Flash FAB in Cheongju first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Seoul, November 20, 2013

SK hynix Inc. (or ‘the Company’, www.skhynix.com) announced that it has started full-scale mass production of 16nm 64Gb(Gigabit) MLC(Multi Level Cell) NAND Flash, which uses the industry’s thinnest process technology.

SK hynix has been mass producing its 1st version of the world’s first 16nm NAND Flash since June and recently has started to mass produce the 2nd version which is more cost competitive due to its smaller chip size. In consequence, the Company geared up for strengthening its competitiveness in NAND Flash.

Also, the Company has developed 128Gb(16GB, 16Gigabytes), the highest density in a single MLC chip, based on the specification and endurance of 16nm 64Gb MLC. The product is planned to be mass produced from the beginning of next year.

Generally, the thinner process technology shrinks the more frequent interferences among cells occur, but SK hynix applied up-to-date Air-Gap technology to overcome the interferences among the cells. The Air-Gap technology builds insulation shield with vacuum holes(Air) between circuits not with insulating substances.

“After the Company developed and started to mass produce the industry’s thinnest 16nm product then now prepared high density NAND Flash product portfolio thanks to the development of 16nm 128Gb MLC”, said senior vice president Jin Woong Kim, the Head of Flash Tech Development. “The Company plans to actively respond to our customers’ demands with the NAND Flash products which have high reliability and endurance” he added.

SK hynix will strengthen its competitiveness in NAND Flash solution while accelerating the development of TLC(Triple Level Cell) and 3D NAND Flash.

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About SK hynix Inc.

SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world’s top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”), Flash memory chips (“NAND Flash”) and CMOS Image Sensors (“CIS”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com.

Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
Public Relations

Assistant Manager
Heeyoung Son
Phone: +82.2.3459.5316
E-Mail: heeyoung.son@sk.com

The post SK hynix Started Full-Scale Mass Production of 16nm NAND Flash first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

(Center) Oh Chul Kwon, President and CEO of SK hynix
(Second from the Left) Carla Golla, Head of SK hynix Italy R&D Center

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Seoul, June 12, 2012

SK hynix Inc. (‘SK hynix’ or ‘the Company’, www.skhynix.com) announced it established a research and development (or ‘R&D’) center ‘SK hynix Italy S.r.l.’ in Italy. The Company had acquired Ideaflash S.r.l. (or ‘Ideaflash’), an Italian NAND Flash developer, that now is opened as a new R&D center of SK hynix. The opening ceremony was held in Italy on June 11th, 2012.

Ideaflash has mainly been consisted of 50 R&D experts with 12 or more years of average experiences who had formerly engaged in ST Micro and Spansion. They had had various successful experiences in the development of the various Flash memory devices. Carla Golla, who had been the former Ideaflash CEO, was appointed to the head of the newly opened SK hynix’s Italy R&D Center.

“The Italy R&D Center will closely cooperate with the headquarters in Korea and be operated as a core of NAND Flash development activities. SK hynix will further strengthen global R&D competence with outstanding experts.” said Oh Chul Kwon, President and CEO of SK hynix at the opening ceremony.

SK hynix has been operating its R&D centers in the US, Japan and Taiwan. By additionally opening the R&D center in a European region, the Company has secured global R&D bases in four main business areas.

Recently in the NAND Flash industry, a quick response to the market is crucial since various solutions in diverse mobile and smart applications have been released. SK hynix will respond to demands in Europe and reinforce abilities in NAND Flash development.

■ S.r.l.
S.r.l. is “Società a Responsabilità Limitata” in Italian. It is equivalent to “Private Limited Company” in English.

About SK hynix Inc.

SK hynix Inc., Korea, is the world’s top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”), Flash memory chips (“NAND Flash”) and CMOS Image Sensors (“CIS”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com.

Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
Corporate Communications

Senior Manager
Seong-Ae Park
Phone: +82.2.3459.5325
E-Mail: seongae.park@sk.com

The post SK hynix Establishes a Flash R&D Center in Europe first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

Seoul, August 8th, 2010

hynix Semiconductor Inc. (‘hynix’ or ‘the Company’ www.hynix.com) today announced that it has begun mass producing 64Gigabit (‘Gb’) NAND Flash using 20nm class technology at its 300mm Fabrication, M11 in Cheo ngju site. The Company developed this cutting edge technology last February.

hynix’s 20nm class 64Gb chip doubles the density in a package over the current 32Gb product. 20nm class process technology also provides a 60% increase in productivity over hynix’s existing 30nm class technology. By providing these high density and cost efficient chips, hynix will respond to the needs of advanced mobile solutions which require smaller size and higher density storage capacity.

The Company said it has also developed NAND Flash solution products which combine hynix’s 30nm class 32Gb Flash chips and controller devices from Anobit, an Israeli NAND-based solution provider, through a strategic alliance between the two companies. This solution product operates at a high speed and significantly improves the reliability as a storage device. The newly mass-produced 20nm class NAND Flash chips will also be combined with the controller device and will be validated in September 2010.

“hynix decided to mass produce the industry’s highest density64Gb chips using 20nm class technology in order to fully satisfy demand from the customers. With these 20nm class 64Gb chips, the Company is enabled to provide customized, high performance products in a timely manner which perfectly suitsmobile solutions including smartphones, table PCs and others,” said Dr. S.W. Park, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of hynix.

On top of this new agreement with HP, hynix plans to continue its active R&D in various next memory products including ReRAM in order to strengthen its competitiveness as a leading memory company.

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About hynix Semiconductor Inc.

hynix Semiconductor Inc. (HSI) of Icheon, Korea, is the world’s top tier memory semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAMs”) , Flash memory chips (“NAND Flash”) and CMOS Image Sensor (“CIS”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about hynix is available at www.hynix.com.

About Anobit

Anobit is a NAND-based solutions provider. Its Memory Signal Processing (MSPTM) technology significantly improves the endurance, performance, cost and time-to-market of NAND-based products and systems. The company’s products range from MSP components to complete, enterprise-class solid-state drives. Anobit works closely with some of the world’s largest NAND manufacturers, consumer electronics vendors and storage solution providers. For more information visit www.anobit.com.

Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

Assistant Manager
Seong-Ae Park
Phone: +82.2.3459.5325
Fax: +82.2.3459.5333
E-Mail: seongae.park@hynix.com

The post hynix Strengthens its NAND Flash Business first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.