SanDisk Speaks of 19nm Technology, Bets Much on It

Though CPUs are still at the 32nm node, NAND Flash memory is actually further along, something SanDisk intends to make the best of.

SanDisk is one of the better known makers of NAND Flash products, such as memory cards, flash drives and SSDs.

It so happens that the company has begun production of memory based on the 19nm manufacturing process.

Both MLC (multi-level / 2 bits per cell) and TLC (three bits per cell) memory is being made, though the yields were not disclosed.

The company hopes to get more customers in both the consumer and enterprise fields, as the new type of Flash has better performance and lower costs, among other things.

The TLC NAND is going to be used mainly for PC storage, while MLC is good for both PCs and servers / data centers / etc.

"We will be looking at opportunities for 3bpc on the client SSD side. Enterprise SSD, I fully expect that to continue to be on 2bpc, given the high performance, the high reliability requirement of enterprise application," said Sanjay Mehrotra, chief executive officer of SanDisk, during a conversation with financial analysts.

19nm manufacture began back in the fourth quarter of 2011 and will grow in capacity each month during 2012.

“We began production of 19nm technology in Q4, and it will ramp throughout 2012. As we explained previously, NAND scaling is becoming more complex for the industry, resulting in a lower rate of cost reduction from technology transition,” said the CEO.

“The 19nm technology will generate a lower cost reduction rate compared to what we achieved with the 24nm transition.”

It is understandable that SanDisk would try to make the best of this manufacturing technology, even though it surely won't be alone on this node.

Though the mass production has begun recently, the first 19nm NAND Flash memory solution was demonstrated back in April 2011.