Intel making its first QLC 3D NAND SSDs for datacenters

AnandTech writes Intel kicked off production of its first PCIe datacenter SSD that uses the new QLC 3D NAND flash memory. Not a lot of details are known, the product is part of the new D5 datacenter product family, but we don't know the exact naming nor the specifications. More info will be presented at the Flash Memory Summit August 7-9, Intel VP Rob Crooke will be hosting a keynote speech at that event on August 8.

Earlier this year, Intel confirmed that they would be producing QLC SSDs in the second half of 2018, and that they were putting up to 20TB in a 2.5" U.2 drive, but it is not yet clear whether that configuration is one that's going into mass production at this time. Intel is expecting this to be the first QLC SSD available for this market segment.

This is the first QLC NAND flash disk for the datacenter market. At the moment, the only other product is the QLC NAND enterprise SATA SSD from Micron. Other firms have been talking about this for over a year, but nothing has materialized yet. It's unknown when we can expect consumer disks based on this technology.