NAND makers make the shift to 90/96-layer tech

Industry observers told DigiTimes that chip makers are going to mass produce 90-layer and 96-layer 3D NAND flash memory in the second half of this year. This shift will enable more cost-efficient production. It will be interesting to see how NAND flash memory prices will trend this year, so far analysts predict we can expect further price declines. On one hand this makes HDDs even less attractive, and on the other hand it will lead to a higher default capacity SSD in laptops.

For consumer electronics devices, 90/96-layer 3D NAND node manufacturing will enable more cost efficiency compared to previous-generation 3D technologies. Chipmakers with their more advanced 90/96-layer processes are also eyeing huge opportunities arising from automotive and data center applications, the observers indicated.

On another front, major NAND flash chipmakers have moved to cut back their 64-layer 3D NAND chip output aiming to bring stability to the memory market, the observers noted. The NAND flash market has been oversupplied causing chip prices to fall further.