Micron’s 232-Layer QLC NAND Flashes into Mass Production: Unleashing Unmatched Performance and Density for Enterprise and PC Storage.

Micron Technology Inc. has announced that its 232-layer QLC NAND flash memory is now in mass production and being shipped to enterprise storage customers. The memory is also being sampled to original equipment PC manufacturers. This 232-layer QLC NAND provides improved performance for various storage use cases, including mobile, client, edge, and data center storage.

The compact and high-density 232-layer QLC NAND enables the creation of thin and light devices with enhanced user experience. The memory has a higher bit-density with NAND I/O speeds of 2400 MT/s, a 50% improvement over the prior generation. Additionally, it offers better read and programming performance over the earlier generation.

Micron has also integrated this technology into its new 2500 Client SSD, which enhances everyday computing and improves the PC user experience. The SSD has shown superior PCMark 10 experience benchmark results, outperforming the average scores in the SSD segment. Micron anticipates that as the industry shifts to QLC-based storage, the 2500 SSD will further accelerate QLC adoption in PCs due to its world-class user experience and value proposition.

The 2500 SSD boasts up to 7.1 GB/s sequential read speeds, superior to TLC-based NAND and QLC-based NAND SSDs in the segment. The accelerated caching feature enables faster read and write performance under various applications. The 232-layer QLC NAND enables even the smaller capacity 512GB SSD to provide endurance to support 13 4K movie downloads per day, every day for three years.

Available in capacities ranging from 512GB up to 2TB, the compact form factor of these SSDs makes them suitable for handheld gaming devices or other portable devices where space is limited. The single-sided design of these drives offers better flexibility for OEMs to integrate them into systems that range from ultra-thin devices to workstations.