Toshiba and SanDisk now manufacturing new NAND memory chips

Not long after Intel and Micron announced the first new memory category in 25 years, surpassing NAND speeds by up to 1,000 times, Toshiba and SanDisk unveil a new generation of BiCS (Bit Cost Scaling) FLASH memory. This is the world's first new 3D NAND 48-layer BiCS FLASH memory chip with a 256 Gigabit (32 GB) capacity, twice the storage space of the non-volatile memory chip announced back in March by the same two companies.

Toshiba and SanDisk teamed up last year to develop 3D NAND memory chips, and the first samples are expected to ship next month. According to SanDisk, this new memory architecture brings "new levels of density, scalability and performance to flash-based devices," also providing better endurance, speeds, and efficiency compared to conventional 2D NAND.

Toshiba currently prepares the mass production of BiCS FLASH chips in the new Fab2 at Yokkaichi Operations, which will be completed in the first half of 2016. More details can be found in the press releases of the two companies, both accessible via the links below.