Intel to debut 144-layer QLC NAND flash in 2020

At a data-centric event, Intel demonstrated world's first 144-layer QLC NAND flash memory. These new chips will have a 1Tb per die capacity and will hit the datacenter market in 2020.

What Intel Announced: Among the milestones discussed at the event were Intel’s plans to operate a new Optane technology development line at its facilities in Rio Rancho, New Mexico; the announcement of the second-generation of Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory, code-named “Barlow Pass,” scheduled for release in 2020 with Intel’s next-generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor; and Intel’s industry-first demonstration of 144-layer QLC (Quad Level Cell) NAND for data center SSDs (solid-state drives), which are also expected in 2020.

Flash with even more bits-per-cell may be in the cards from Intel too. Toshiba recently said they're working on 5-bit-per-cell NAND flash memory and now Intel said they're testing this too in the lab. At the moment, Intel isn't sure when (or even if) PLC (penta-level-cell) NAND may hit the market.

The chip giant also shared some more details about its Optane roadmap, you can find all the details at AnandTech. This includes second-generation Optane enterprise SSDs and Optane DC Persistent Memory. However, it appears these products are still using first-generation 3D XPoint memory.

Intel's Optane DC Persistent Memory that attaches directly to the memory controllers of server CPUs using the DIMM form factor was a bit late in coming to market, arriving with the current Cascade Lake-SP generation instead of with Skylake-SP as originally planned. Those first-generation Optane DCPM modules are also known under the codename Apache Pass. Their successor will be the Barlow Pass modules, planned to coincide with Cooper Lake (14nm) and Ice Lake (10nm) server processors scheduled for 2020....