Samsung Begins Production Of 16Gb NAND Flash Memory

MacRumors · 11:40 PM

Samsung has announced that they are beginning volume production of higher-density flash memory.

Samsung claims to be the first to accomplish the feat of mass-producing 16 gigabit NAND flash memory, which is being manufactured at 51 nm, down from 60 nm with previous 8 gigabit technology.

Quote:

The new 16Gb chip which has a multi-level cell (MLC) structure can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card. Furthermore, by applying the new process technology, Samsung has accelerated the chip’s read and write speeds by approximately 80 percent over current MLC data processing speeds.

Apple currently uses flash memory in many of its products, including the iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, and the upcoming iPhone. Rumors have been circulating that Apple will adopt Intel's flash caching technology (featured in the Santa Rosa platform) in its future MacBook lineups. Some analysts have even gone so far as to claim that Apple may introduce a totally flash-based laptop.

Jarooda · Apr 30, 2007, 06:05 PM

Now that 8GB black nano seems small

TheNightPhoenix · Apr 30, 2007, 06:06 PM

Two 16gb chips and thats a real nice iPod video.

psychofreak · Apr 30, 2007, 06:07 PM

And the move to NAND takes one more step

Spock · Apr 30, 2007, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNightPhoenix

Two 16gb chips and thats a real nice iPod video.

But how much will those things cost? Will it be a 32GB $600 iPod video?

Belly-laughs · Apr 30, 2007, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarooda

Now that 8GB black nano seems small

The 8GB iPhone seems smaller… Not to mention the 4GB.

macsforme · Apr 30, 2007, 06:17 PM

The article mentions both gigabits and gigabytes... which are we referring to, or are we talking capacity vs. access speed?

Tinlad · Apr 30, 2007, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNightPhoenix

Two 16gb chips and thats a real nice iPod video.

These are 16 gigabit chips, not 16 gigabyte chips. Two 16Gb chips is only 4GB.

Eidorian · Apr 30, 2007, 06:19 PM

16 Gigabits = 2 Gigabytes

wakerider017 · Apr 30, 2007, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinlad

These are 16 gigabit chips, not 16 gigabyte chips. Two 16Gb chips is only 4GB.

Exactly.

The Gigabits should be bolded in the original post with a footnote at the bottom.

8 Bits = 1 Byte

so

8 Gigabits = 1 Gigabyte

Clive At Five · Apr 30, 2007, 06:35 PM

Quote:

The new 16Gb chip which has a multi-level cell (MLC) structure can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card. Furthermore, by applying the new process technology, Samsung has accelerated the chip’s read and write speeds by approximately 80 percent over current MLC data processing speeds.

Wow. That's the part that impresses me. 80% speed increase?

Zoom Zoom.

-Clive

nutthick · Apr 30, 2007, 06:46 PM

So which is it, gigabit or gigabyte, there's a big difference?

Thanatoast · Apr 30, 2007, 06:46 PM

:sigh:

Guess no super-secret double-sized iPhones this June, then. Not enough time to manufacture 'em.

WildCowboy · Apr 30, 2007, 06:50 PM

They're talking about the individual memory chips that go into flash devices/cards. Current cards use 8 Gbit chips, and they're moving to a denser 16Gbit chip. They stack up a bunch of these to make flash cards.

For instance, a current 8GB card uses two 4GB stacks of four 8Gbit (1GB) chips. With these new, denser chips, they can fit twice storage as much into the same space.

hatcher002 · Apr 30, 2007, 06:50 PM

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semi...ily_cd=NFL0207
64 gig is in Mass Production status

sushi · Apr 30, 2007, 06:51 PM

It ceases to amaze me why someone would vote negative on this?

Anyhow, greater capacities plus much faster access = good news!

rdowns · Apr 30, 2007, 06:52 PM

From the article, emphasis mine.

The new 16Gb chip which has a multi-level cell (MLC) structure can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card. Furthermore, by applying the new process technology, Samsung has accelerated the chip’s read and write speeds by approximately 80 percent over current MLC data processing speeds.

MacFly123 · Apr 30, 2007, 06:54 PM

Yes it is talking about speed, but what about this part?

"can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card."

Is that not saying they will make 16GB cards?

WildCowboy · Apr 30, 2007, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatcher002

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semi...ily_cd=NFL0207
64 gig is in Mass Production status

That's 64 gigabits, or 8 gigabytes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacFly123

"can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card."

Is that not saying they will make 16GB cards?

Yes, using the new 16Gbit chips (eight of them).

SiliconAddict · Apr 30, 2007, 07:11 PM

Stack 5-6 of these together and I have no problems going all flash.

hatcher002 · Apr 30, 2007, 07:13 PM

its 8, 8 gig stacks on a single chip

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildCowboy

That's 64 gigabits, or 8 gigabytes.

Yes, using the new 16Gbit chips (eight of them).

WildCowboy · Apr 30, 2007, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatcher002

its 8, 8 gig stacks on a single chip

It's a matter of semantics/nomenclature, but the chips are currently 8 Gbit, soon to be moving to this new 16 Gbit level. That's the max density currently available. Anything larger than that is simply stacks of chips, not a single chip.

jbernie · Apr 30, 2007, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacFly123

Yes it is talking about speed, but what about this part?

"can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card."

Is that not saying they will make 16GB cards?

It says they have the potential.... we have the potential to make anything we want, the question is when they can do it at a cost that makes it appealing to the companies to put it in devices.

Given how cheap very large hard drives are these days I wouldn't necessarily expect an all flash laptop etc just yet, maybe they could include flash somehow to increase boot speed or similar. But even on high end models you would be paying crazy $$ for a reasonable amount of space which would be a fraction of what would be offered by other companies for the same price.

There are definately lots of benefit to going to flash, but until all the pros outweight the cost, we won't make that jump.

bloodycape · Apr 30, 2007, 09:49 PM

I have read and seen pics of Samsung Laptops from Japan/Korea(not sure which show it was), that had one 32gig flash drive(16gb*2chips or so I read) and has been on sale for something like 10 or so months now in Asia. There is also the Sony UX series which use to be 16gb flash and was updated to 32gbs a while back. We can only hope to see that on our MB and MBP(maybe 3*32?).

Analog Kid · Apr 30, 2007, 11:26 PM

Funny, I thought these had been shipping for a while now... So the Nano's have 2 and 4 chips in them?

Quote:

Originally Posted by macsforme

The article mentions both gigabits and gigabytes... which are we referring to, or are we talking capacity vs. access speed?

Little b= bits, big B= bytes.

Apr 30, 2007, 06:17 PM	#7
macsforme macrumors newbie Join Date: Mar 2007	The article mentions both gigabits and gigabytes... which are we referring to, or are we talking capacity vs. access speed? __________________ Macless

Apr 30, 2007, 06:19 PM	#9
Eidorian macrumors G3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Indiana	16 Gigabits = 2 Gigabytes __________________ MRoogle it! hikari T7500 2.2 GHz / 4 GB / 320 GB / GMA X3100 / 10.5.8 chobimaru Core i5 750 2.66 GHz / 4 GB / 640 GB / 4830 / Windows 7

Apr 30, 2007, 06:50 PM	#14
WildCowboy macrumors god Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: nowhere near the infinite loop anymore	They're talking about the individual memory chips that go into flash devices/cards. Current cards use 8 Gbit chips, and they're moving to a denser 16Gbit chip. They stack up a bunch of these to make flash cards. For instance, a current 8GB card uses two 4GB stacks of four 8Gbit (1GB) chips. With these new, denser chips, they can fit twice storage as much into the same space. __________________ 15" 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro -- 15" 1.67 GHz PowerBook -- 14" 1.2 GHz iBook

Apr 30, 2007, 06:50 PM	#15
hatcher002 macrumors newbie Join Date: Sep 2005	64 gig nada flash from samsung http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semi...ily_cd=NFL0207 64 gig is in Mass Production status

Apr 30, 2007, 06:54 PM	#18
MacFly123 macrumors 68000 Join Date: Dec 2006	Size Yes it is talking about speed, but what about this part? "can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card." Is that not saying they will make 16GB cards?

Apr 30, 2007, 06:05 PM	#2
Jarooda macrumors newbie Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ottawa	Now that 8GB black nano seems small

Apr 30, 2007, 06:06 PM	#3
TheNightPhoenix macrumors 6502 Join Date: Dec 2005	Two 16gb chips and thats a real nice iPod video.

Apr 30, 2007, 06:07 PM	#4
psychofreak Retired Join Date: May 2006 Location: London	And the move to NAND takes one more step

Apr 30, 2007, 06:46 PM	#12
nutthick macrumors newbie Join Date: Apr 2007	So which is it, gigabit or gigabyte, there's a big difference?

Apr 30, 2007, 06:46 PM	#13
Thanatoast macrumors 6502a Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Denver	:sigh: Guess no super-secret double-sized iPhones this June, then. Not enough time to manufacture 'em.

Apr 30, 2007, 06:51 PM	#16
sushi macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kanagawa-Ken	It ceases to amaze me why someone would vote negative on this? Anyhow, greater capacities plus much faster access = good news!

Apr 30, 2007, 06:52 PM	#17
rdowns macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Jul 2003	From the article, emphasis mine. The new 16Gb chip which has a multi-level cell (MLC) structure can facilitate capacity expansion by offering 16 gigabytes (GBs) of memory in a single memory card. Furthermore, by applying the new process technology, Samsung has accelerated the chip’s read and write speeds by approximately 80 percent over current MLC data processing speeds.

Apr 30, 2007, 07:11 PM	#20
SiliconAddict macrumors 601 Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Burnsville, Minnesota, USA	Stack 5-6 of these together and I have no problems going all flash. __________________ -iPod Video 160GB -MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.33Ghz/3GB RAM/250GB -Newton 4700 (a.k.a iPaq 4700) -Dell 2405FPW 24" Widescreen

Apr 30, 2007, 09:49 PM	#24
bloodycape macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jun 2005	I have read and seen pics of Samsung Laptops from Japan/Korea(not sure which show it was), that had one 32gig flash drive(16gb2chips or so I read) and has been on sale for something like 10 or so months now in Asia. There is also the Sony UX series which use to be 16gb flash and was updated to 32gbs a while back. We can only hope to see that on our MB and MBP(maybe 332?). __________________ iBook G4 12in 1.2ghz, 768mb of ram - still alive & running ---> MBP 15in 2.0, 1.5gig of ram; Sony Vaio TT190-wish I could dual boot OSX on it easily.

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