Toshiba QLC NAND flash memory matches TLC in terms of P/E cycles

A week ago, Toshiba announced it developed the first QLC 3D NAND flash memory. Many feared QLC would have a bad endurance rating but Toshiba claims that is far from the case.

The industry feared QLC would have just 100-150 program/erase (P/E) cycles but Toshiba's QLC product delivers an endurance rating of ~1,000 P/E cycles. Surprisingly, that is roughly in-line with TLC NAND flash memory.

Besides intention to produce 768 Gb 3D QLC NAND flash for the aforementioned devices, the most interesting part of Toshiba’s announcement is endurance specification for the upcoming components. According to the company, its 3D QLC NAND is targeted for ~1000 program/erase cycles, which is close to TLC NAND flash. This is considerably higher than the amount of P/E cycles (100 – 150) expected for QLC by the industry over the years. At first thought, it comes across a typo - didn't they mean 100?. But the email we received was quite clear:

- What’s the number of P/E cycles supported by Toshiba’s QLC NAND?
- QLC P/E is targeted for 1K cycles.

Via: AnandTech