Toshiba is one of the giants of NAND memory along with Samsung and Micron, the company has announced the creation of a new factory that will be responsible for the production of new 96-layer NAND BiCS chips, which will offer higher storage density compared to the current 64-layer ones.
Toshiba’s new factory will be in Kitakami, Japan, and will be responsible for demonstrating the company’s leadership in the field of NAND memory. Toshiba now has the most advanced NAND memory stacking technology available, resulting in its BiCS (Bit Column Stacked) chips. This is the same technology that will be used for your new 96-layer chips, and also for future 128-layer chips. The latter could make the leap to QLC memory, which allows four bits per cell to be stored instead of the three bits per cell in the current TLC.
The new Toshiba factory will be completed in 2019 and will have an earthquake-absorbing structure, as well as an eco-design that includes the latest energy-saving manufacturing equipment. It will also introduce an advanced production system that uses artificial intelligence to boost productivity. Decisions on the investment in equipment, production capacity and production plan of the new plant will reflect market trends.
The demand for 3D flash memory is increasing significantly in the growing demand for enterprise SSDs for data centres and servers. Toshiba expects continued strong growth in the medium and long-term, and the timing of the new factory’s construction positions it to capture this growth and expand its business.