Solidigm prepares SSDs with 192 storage layers and 61.44 TB

After Intel sold its SSD division to SK Hynix at the end of 2021 and the new provider Solidigm came from it, things are now moving very fast. At Storage Field Day 24, the company unveiled a new QLC NAND flash with more layers and higher capacities.

Solidigm with new PCIe 4.0 QLC NAND flash

Following the P41 Plus in August and the fast P44 Pro in October, Solidigm has now previewed its own future at Storage Field Day 24. Thus, the floating gate architecture with four bits per cell (QLC, Quadruple Level Cells) from Intel is used to increase not only the number of memory layers, but also the capacities.

With the new generation of QLC NAND flash memory from Solidigm, the number of memory layers increases from 144 to 192 layers. However, the manufacturer still lacked concrete details in the presentation.

However, the performance is supposed to increase significantly, as the presentation shows. Compared to an unspecified TLC NAND, Solidigm’s QLC is said to be up to 24 percent faster, and up to six times faster than a competitor’s QLC NAND.

The manufacturer also wants to be at the forefront when it comes to latencies and speaks of up to 84 percent better latency for 4K random write operations, which would be well below 1 ms and even just above 0.5 milliseconds.

• Read more: SK Hynix 238-layer NAND: World’s first 4D NAND with tremendous density

Up to 61.44 TB in the enterprise segment

At the same time, however, the storage capacity of corresponding SSDs also increases in the process. Solidigm itself speaks of a possible doubling from the previous maximum, 30.72 TB to a whopping 61.44 terabytes of storage space. However, the manufacturer has not yet announced how exactly this doubling will be realized.

This storage capacity is initially to be made possible in the Value Endurance series for enterprise SSDs, which are offered in the form factors E1.L, E3.S and U.2. Thus, they are initially aimed at servers that accordingly do not require the very highest write performance.

Details about the write and read performance and a concrete date for the new Solidigm SSD are not yet available. It is probably expected in 2023.