SK Hynix brings the 8th Gen 3D NAND: A new era for SSDs

As we all know, SK Hynix is a giant when it comes to memory and DRAM business, and also a leader in terms of innovation as well. Recently, the South Korean giant announced the 8th generation of 3D NAND memory that will be stacked with over 300 active layers that could drastically increase SSD speeds and also lower costs per TB.

8th Gen 3D NAND by SK Hynix: What’s new?

SK Hynix recently revealed information about the eighth-generation 3D NAND, boasting over 300 stacked layers, and it is expected to be launched by the end of 2024 or early 2025.

According to the official announcement by SK Hynix, the 8th generation 3D NAND has matured with over 300 layers, 1Tb (128GB) capacity, three-level cells, and a bit density exceeding 20Gb/mm^2.

The chip features a page size of 16KB, 4 planes, an interface transmission speed of 2400MT/s, and a maximum throughput of 194MB/s (18% faster than the 7th generation 238-layer 3D NAND). It is said that the high-speed I/O and increased throughput will drastically help in the upcoming best SSDs with PCIe 5.0 x4 interface.

The significant increase in bit density for the new NAND would result in a significant improvement in per-wafer productivity for the new manufacturing node, which could also lower costs for SK Hynix, although the exact amount is unknown.