Samsung Electronics plans to provide detailed announcements about its 1Tb-capacity, 400-layer Triple-Level Cell (TLC) NAND at the 2025 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in the United States in February 2025. Mass production of this advanced NAND is expected to begin in the second half of next year, though some industry experts predict production could start as early as the end of the second quarter if the process is accelerated.
In addition to the 400-layer NAND, Samsung Electronics will increase output from its advanced product lines next year. The company plans to install new 9th-generation (286-layer) production facilities at its Pyeongtaek campus, with a monthly capacity of 30,000–40,000 wafers. Furthermore, Samsung's Xi'an plant will continue converting its 128-layer (V6) NAND production lines to the 236-layer (V8) process.
The development of 400-layer NAND represents a major leap forward in NAND flash technology, which has evolved from traditional planar (2D) NAND to 3D NAND. This technology involves vertically stacking memory cells to improve storage density and efficiency. Samsung introduced a "triple-stack" technology for its 400-layer NAND, involving the stacking of memory cells into three layers, marking a significant advancement in this field.
Currently, Samsung Electronics holds a leading 36.9% global market share in NAND flash. The company's efforts to maintain its leadership come amid fierce competition from SK Hynix. SK Hynix was the first to mass-produce 238-layer products globally in 2023 and recently announced the start of 321-layer NAND production.
The NAND flash market is influenced by various factors, including consumer demand, price trends, and the rise of data-intensive applications such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers. Driven by the global AI boom, sales of NAND for data centers are on the rise. However, fixed transaction prices for 128Gb Multi-Level Cell (MLC) products fell by 29.8% in November, averaging $2.16. TrendForce analysis indicates that while NAND prices are expected to decline by 3%–8% in Q4 this year, enterprise-grade Solid-State Drive (SSD) prices are projected to rise by up to 5%.
As Samsung Electronics prepares for the mass production of 400-layer NAND, it is also working to optimize wafer yields. Currently, NAND yield rates in the R&D phase stand at just 10%–20%. Successfully transferring this technology to production lines is critical to achieving higher yields and meeting market demand.