Samsung has started mass production of the world's first QLC (quad-level cell) consumer SSD. QLC is 4 bits/cell flash technology and a next step in cell bit capacity from the current TLC (3 bits/cell). Foundries belonging to Intel/Micron, SK Hynix and WD/Toshiba have started producing QLC chips and, in some cases, SSDs already …

China’s state-backed 3D NAND fabber, YMTC, has claimed it will bring out memory speed flash chips next year. nerd with briefcase Intel to Tsinghua: I know Micron didn't work out – please buy our 3D NAND READ MORE Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) is developing a 64-layer 3D NAND with a potential 3Gbit/s data access speed …

Comment Micron's commercial discussions with Intel over 3D XPoint have concluded that the tech partnership will be dissolved once second-gen development is completed next year. Intel's Optane XPoint product sales have been disappointing and Micron is facing a collapse in sales of its XPoint chip output to Intel. Intel is, of course, …

The ongoing war between US-based memory maker Micron and Asian DRAM manufacturers went nuclear today. The Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court, based in southeast China, has, we're told, blocked the sale of a huge volume of Micron kit in the Middle Kingdom amid an ongoing patent row. That ruling, we understand, would stop …

Analysis Micron is alleging United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) of Taiwan blatantly stole its intellectual property and gave it to a Chinese DRAM foundry startup, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Company. Following this alleged theft, Chinese regulators opened an DRAM price-fixing inquiry against memory-makers Micron, Samsung, …

Micron rode strong demand for DRAM and flash to record revenues and profits for its third fiscal 2018 quarter (PDF), but XPoint chip sales to Intel collapsed. Revenues were $7.8bn, up 40 per cent annually, with net profits of $3.8bn, more than twice last year's $1.7bn. Memory ruled the quarter with DRAM providing 71 per cent …

Toshiba has sent in a SAS SSD hit team to assault SATA SSDs and their slower interface in the shape of its RM5 vSAS drive. It has priced the drive at SATA levels, referring to it as a vSAS drive, where "v" is for value. OK. SATA interface speeds of 6Gbit/s are not good enough for servers, and cheaper SAS should, Toshiba said, …

Analysis Micron has started to separate from Intel in NAND production, just days after whipping the veil off its 7.68TB QLC SSD, and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and pals are keen to chat up analysts about their vision of the coming "New Micron". Earlier this week, Mehrotra told an assembly of business-botherers that the markets were …

Micron has whipped out the 64-layer 5210 ION SSD – apparently the industry's first QLC NAND flash drive – opening a new front in the SSD-HDD marketing war. QLC (quad-level cell) flash stores four bits per cell, one more than today's TLC chips that use three bits per cell. The capacities of this 2.5-inch product are 1.92TB, 3. …

Updated The three semiconductor giants responsible for nearly all of the world's DRAM supply are being sued for allegedly working together to keep memory chip prices high. A class-action complaint [PDF] filed to the US Northern California District Court late last week accuses Micron, Samsung, and Hynix of conspiring to keep the price …

Analysis A team of scientists from China have asserted that 3D XPoint is essentially phase-change memory, which manufacturers Intel and Micron have not publicly admitted. Phase-change memory (PCM) exploits properties of chalcogenide alloy, the internal state of which varies between crystalline and amorphous phases with different levels …

It has been a hardware frenzy this week, with a pair of microSD cards for surveillance cams, flash drives for video takers and makers, and good old filers from a NAS baker. These were accompanied by cash-raising from Sphere3D and Oracle adding block support to its cloud-based Linux Storage Appliance. We'll start with the …

Micron's latest quarter revenues were up 58 per cent year on year, its CEO told an earnings call full of analysts eager to nibble at the chip-fryer's plate. The semiconductor firm reported $7.35bn revenues for the second fiscal 2018 quarter, up 58 per cent compared to $4.65bn a year ago and $6.8bn in the preceding quarter, up …

Nimbus Data has introduced its 100TB ExaDrive DC series SSD, the highest-capacity flash drive available. It has some unusual characteristics but, first, let's show its size advantage by checking out the competition: Toshiba PM5: 30.72TB, 2.5-inch case, 12 Gbit/s SAS interface, 1, 3, 5 and 10 drive writes per day (DWPD) …

Analysis Western Digital is letting its acquired market share in enterprise SSDs slip away from a revenue and capacity perspective as rival Micron - now infused with ex-SanDisk execs - keeps on growing like a weed. According to TrendFocus estimates, tweaked by Wells Fargo senior analyst Aaron Rakers, SSD unit sales for each major …

Intel is discussing selling 3D NAND wafers to China's Tsinghua Unigroup, the same company US government barred from buying Intel's flash partner Micron in 2015. Intel and Micron have a flash chip manufacturing partnership, IMTF, and the two announced they were separating their flash interests in January. The two are …

Later this year Micron plans to release quad-level cell flash drives that encroach on the nearline disk drive market. QLC flash stores 4bits/cell, whereas TLC stores 3, adding a third more capacity. A 6TB TLC SSD could become an 8TB QLC SSD using this technology. QLC flash has a shorter working life than TLC flash and is …

It's boom time in Micron flash and DRAM land with increased revenue expectations for the current quarter. And it has hired a new CFO. The guidance for Micron's second fiscal 2018 quarter, which ends March 1, is now for revenues between $7.2bn and $7.35bn. The earlier expectation was $6.8bn to $7.2bn. This is a $275m rise at …