SK Hynix becomes first chipmaker to 128-layer 4D NAND flash memory chips

SK Hynix Inc. has become the world’s first chipmaker to mass produce 128-layer 4D NAND flash chips, the company’s new product in the NAND flash chip market where it has relative disadvantage amid a global downturn in the semiconductor market.

The company said Wednesday that it started mass-producing the industry’s highest vertically stacking 4D NAND flash chips, just eight months after developing the 96-layer 4D NAND flash chips.

SK Hynix said it developed the 128-layer chip by using the existing 4D platform, reducing the entire production process by 5 percent while adding an additional 32 layers to the 96-layer chip. The company said its investment in the 128-layer NAND flash chips was 60 percent less than in the previous generation by using the existing production platform.

SK Hynix said the shipment of the 128-layer 4D NAND flash memories will begin in the second half of this year, followed by a series of applied products. The chipmaker is also developing next-generation 176-Layer 4D NAND flash chips to continue to strengthen its NAND competitiveness. The semiconductor industry expects the new products to meet demands in corporate solid state drives for cloud data centers and the fifth-generation smartphones that require high-capacity memory chips.


Dong-Jun Heo hungry@donga.com