Greenliant has expanded its ArmourDrive industrial memory card portfolio with the high reliability, high capacity microSD QX Series, available from 256 GB to 1 TB, and operating at wide temperatures (-25 to +85 degrees Celsius). See microSD ArmourDrive product information at http://bit.ly/SD-microSD.

Industrial microSD memory cards have become a popular storage medium for a broad range of applications, including dashcams and bodycams, data loggers, routers and switches, medical equipment and IIoT devices. Built with high quality, advanced 4-bit-per-cell (QLC) 3D NAND flash memory, microSD ArmourDrive QX Series products provide video, security, networking and industrial customers with cost effective, reliable and rugged removable data storage. UHS Speed Class 10 and SD Specification 6.10 compliant, microSD ArmourDrive QX Series cards reach up to 100/37 MB/s sequential read/write performance and are ideal for video recording at high definition resolution.

Intel today rolled out the SSD 670p series, a new line of M.2 NVMe SSDs that are targeted at the mainstream segment. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host-interface, the drive implements Intel's latest 144-layer 3D QLC NAND flash memory, mated with a re-badged Silicon Motion SM2265G 8-channel controller that uses a fixed 256 MB DDR3L DRAM cache across all capacity variants. It comes in capacities of 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB.

The 1 TB and 2 TB variants offer sequential read speeds of up to 3500 MB/s, while the 512 GB variant reads at up to 3000 MB/s. Sequential write speeds vary, with the 512 GB variant writing at up to 1600 MB/s, the 1 TB variant at up to 2500 MB/s, and the 2 TB variant at up to 2700 MB/s. The drives offer significantly higher endurance than past generations of QLC-based drives, with the 512 GB variant capable of up to 185 TBW, the 1 TB variant up to 370 TBW, and the 2 TB variant up to 740 TBW. Intel is backing the drives with 5-year warranties. The 512 GB variant is priced at $89, the 1 TB variant at $154, and the 2 TB variant at $329.

Newegg listings indicate Corsair is ready with the MP600 Core and MP600 PRO HydroX, which they state release later today. The MP600 Core is an M.2 NVMe SSD that's a cost-effective variant of the MP600 PRO. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the drive takes advantage of PCI-Express 4.0 x4, but unlike the MP600 PRO, uses QLC NAND flash memory. The drive uses the Phison PS5016-E16 controller just like the original MP600, but swaps out its TLC NAND flash for QLC. On offer, are sequential transfer rates of up to 4950 MB/s reads, and up to 3700 MB/s writes, up to 380,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 580,000 IOPS 4K random writes.

The MP600 PRO HydroX, on the other hand, is a premium variant of the MP600 PRO that comes with a factory-fitted water block that you connect to your DIY liquid cooling loop. It uses the same combination of the latest Phison PS5018-E18 controller with 3D TLC NAND flash, and offers the same on-paper performance, with up to 7000 MB/s sequential reads, up to 6550 MB/s sequential writes, up to 660,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 800,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The MP600 Core and MP600 PRO HydroX are expected to launch alongside the original MP600 PRO, later this week. Both the MP600 Core and MP600 PRO HydroX are listed on the international stores of Newegg, with the 2 TB MP600 PRO HydroX going for $459, and the 2 TB MP600 Core going for £286 (incl. VAT).

Intel has quietly announced the discontinuation of all Optane Memory SSDs for the consumer market. The company also confirmed that going forward they had no plans to release any new consumer Optane-Only SDDs. The Intel Optane Memory M10, 800P, 900P, and 905P series SSDs have now all been discontinued with final shipments going out next month. Intel has directed users to look at their Optane Memory H20 with Solid State Storage as a potential replacement, the H20 is a QLC M.2 SSD with 32 GB of Optane memory offered in 1 TB and 2 TB configurations. If you are looking to purchase an Intel Optane-Only SSD you will have to act quickly as once stocks run out they won't be returning.

The percentage distribution of 2021 NAND Flash bit demand by application currently shows that client SSD accounts for 31%, enterprise SSD 20%, eMMC/UFS 41%, and NAND wafer 8%, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. TrendForce expects NAND Flash ASP to undergo QoQ declines throughout 2021, since the number of NAND suppliers far exceeds DRAM suppliers, and the bit supply remains high. As Samsung, YMTC, SK Hynix, and Intel actively expand their NAND Flash bit output in 1Q21, the oversupply situation in the industry will become more severe, with a forecasted 6% QoQ increase in NAND Flash bit output and a 10-15% QoQ decline in NAND Flash ASP in 1Q21.

Today, at Intel's Memory and Storage 2020 event, the company highlighted six new memory and storage products to help customers meet the challenges of digital transformation. Key to advancing innovation across memory and storage, Intel announced two new additions to its Intel Optane Solid State Drive (SSD) Series: the Intel Optane SSD P5800X, the world's fastest data center SSD, and the Intel Optane Memory H20 for client, which features performance and mainstream productivity for gaming and content creation. Optane helps meet the needs of modern computing by bringing the memory closer to the CPU. The company also revealed its intent to deliver its 3rd generation of Intel Optane persistent memory (code-named "Crow Pass") for cloud and enterprise customers.

"Today is a key moment for our memory and storage journey. With the release of these new Optane products, we continue our innovation, strengthen our memory and storage portfolio, and enable our customers to better navigate the complexity of digital transformation. Optane products and technologies are becoming a mainstream element of business compute. And as a part of Intel, these leadership products are advancing our long-term growth priorities, including AI, 5G networking and the intelligent, autonomous edge." -Alper Ilkbahar, Intel vice president in the Data Platforms Group and general manager of the Intel Optane Group.

Total NAND Flash revenue reached US$14.5 billion in 3Q20, a 0.3% increase QoQ, while total NAND Flash bit shipment rose by 9% QoQ, but the ASP fell by 9% QoQ, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. The market situation in 3Q20 can be attributed to the rising demand from the consumer electronics end as well as the recovering smartphone demand before the year-end peak sales season. Notably, in the PC market, the rise of distance education contributed to the growing number and scale of Chromebook tenders, but the increase in the demand for Chromebook devices has not led to a significant increase in NAND Flash consumption because storage capacity is rather limited for this kind of notebook computer. Moreover, clients in the server and data center segments had aggressively stocked up on components and server barebones during 2Q20 due to worries about the impact of the pandemic on the supply chain. Hence, their inventories reached a fairly high level by 3Q20. Clients are now under pressure to control and reduce their inventories during this second half of the year. With them scaling back procurement, the overall NAND Flash demand has also weakened, leading to a downward turn in the contract prices of most NAND Flash products.

NEO Semiconductor was honored with a Flash Memory Summit 2020 Best of Show Award for Hardware Architecture at today's Flash Memory Summit 2020 Best of Show Awards ceremony. The Flash Memory Summit, the World's largest and most prestigious storage industry conference and exposition, recognizes NEO Semiconductor's X-NAND product solution.

"5G, robotics, virtual reality and AI applications demand the highest level of performance in order to meet the service level objectives of business-critical data center workloads," said Jay Kramer, Chairman of the Awards Program and President of Network Storage Advisors Inc. "We are proud to recognize NEO Semiconductor X-NAND product solution for providing an excellent high-performance solution that can uniquely lower the cost across all tiers of SSD technologies."

SK hynix and Intel today announced that they have signed an agreement on Oct. 20, KST, under which SK hynix would acquire Intel's NAND memory and storage business for US $9 billion. The transaction includes the NAND SSD business, the NAND component and wafer business, and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China. Intel will retain its distinct Intel Optane business.

SK hynix and Intel will endeavor to obtain required governmental approvals expected in late 2021. Following receipt of these approvals, SK hynix will acquire from Intel the NAND SSD business (including NAND SSD-associated IP and employees), as well as the Dalian facility, with the first payment of US $7 billion. SK hynix will acquire from Intel the remaining assets, including IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers, R&D employees, and the Dalian fab workforce, upon a final closing, expected to occur in March 2025 with the remaining payment of US $2 billion. Per the agreement, Intel will continue to manufacture NAND wafers at the Dalian Memory Manufacturing Facility and retain all IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers until the final closing.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the launch of the new CORSAIR MP400 Gen3 PCIe x4 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive, taking advantage of 3D QLC NAND technology to store massive amounts of data with lightning-fast transfer speeds of up to 3,400 MB/sec sequential read and 3,000 MB/sec sequential write. The MP400 is available now in 1 TB, 2 TB, or 4 TB capacities, with an 8 TB model coming soon.

Conveniently slotting directly into a motherboard thanks to its M.2 2280 industry-standard NVMe form-factor, the MP400 boasts wide-ranging compatibility and high-bandwidth performance, while its high-density 3D QLC NAND memory ensures better value than previous generation TLC NAND, able to store more data in the same amount of physical space.

Intel Corp. and Lightbits Labs today announced an agreement to propel development of disaggregated storage solutions to solve the challenges of today's data center operators who are craving improved total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) due to stranded disk capacity and performance. This strategic partnership includes technical co-engineering, go-to-market collaboration and an Intel Capital investment in Lightbits Labs. Lightbits' LightOS product delivers high-performance shared storage across servers while providing high availability and read-and-write management designed to maximize the value of flash-based storage. LightOS, while being fully optimized for Intel hardware, provides customers with vastly improved storage efficiency and reduces underutilization while maintaining compatibility with existing infrastructure without compromising performance and simplicity.

Lightbits Labs will enhance its composable disaggregated software-defined storage solution, LightOS, for Intel technologies, creating an optimized software and hardware solution. The system will utilize Intel Optane persistent memory and Intel 3D NAND SSDs based on Intel QLC Technology, Intel Xeon Scalable processors with unique built-in artificial intelligence (AI) acceleration capabilities and Intel Ethernet 800 Series Network Adapters with Application Device Queues (ADQ) technology. Intel's leadership FPGAs for next-generation performance, flexibility and programmability will complement the solution.

Yangtze Memory Technology Company (YMTC), China's ambitious new memory manufacturer specializing in NAND flash, launched the first client-segment SSDs under its own brand, the PC005 Active series and the SC001 Active series. Rumors of YMTC developing its own brand SSDs surfaced first in June. Prior to that in May, it was reported that Phison could add support for YMTC NAND flash chips to variants of its existing SSD controllers, and so it's highly likely that the new YMTC SSDs use Phison-sourced controllers. Interestingly, the company deployed its first-generation Xtracking 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash chips instead of its 2nd generation 128-layer QLC chips.

The PC005 Active comes in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, leveraging the NVMe 1.3 protocol. The drive is available in 1 TB. 512 GB, and 256 GB capacities. All three variants read sequentially at speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s, wiring at up to 2,900 MB/s, up to 2,500 MB/s, and up to 1,200 MB/s, respectively. Their endurance is rated at 640 TBW for the 1 TB version, 320 TBW for the 512 GB, and 200 TBW for the 256 GB variant. All three are backed by 5-year warranties.

Phison Electronics , the industry's leader in NAND flash controllers and storage solutions, announces availability of the world's first 15.36 TB QLC customizable Enterprise SSD solution based on Phison's S12DC controller. Phison provides its customers with industry leading SSDs that are customized to their needs by leveraging Phison's firmware, controller, PCBA design, and manufacturing. The S12DC QLC SSD is an ideal storage solution by delivering higher performance, lower power consumption, and greater rack storage density for read intensive storage applications that currently source hard disk drives.

TEAMGROUP today launches QX, the industry's first and largest consumer-grade, 15.3 TB 2.5" SATA solid state drive, shaking the industry with its powerful debut. The QX uses the latest 3D QLC flash memory and has up to 2,560 TBW of write life. It is super durable compared to other products in the industry, lightweight and compact, yet offers a high 15.3 TB storage capacity. The QX will revolutionize the consumer-grade 2.5" SATA SSD market with its market dominating specification.

The QX uses the latest 3D QLC flash memory, which not only has the industry's first and largest 15.3 TB storage capacity but also has industry's first write life up to 2,560 TBW. The ultra-high durability provides consumers with stability and reliability. The powerful QX supports smart dual Cache, including SLC Caching technology and DRAM Cache Buffer, delivering 560/480 MB per second of ultra-fast read/write speed for smooth user experience. At the same time, it also excellent features such as low power consumption, shock resistance, noise-free, etc. With the huge terabyte storage capacity of a mechanical hard drive and the read/write performance not found in traditional mechanical hard drives, it can revolutionize and redefine the consumer-grade 2.5" SATA SSD with its massive 15.3 TB storage capacity.

Nimbus Data, a leading innovator in flash memory storage, today unveiled ExaDrive NL, the world's highest capacity QLC flash SSD and the industry's first QLC flash SAS SSD for enterprise workloads. With industry-leading capacity up to 64 TB in a single SSD, ExaDrive NL helps organizations eliminate server sprawl, reduce software licensing costs, improve efficiency, and reduce data center operating costs by up to 75%.

"Customers are always looking for more capacity and more efficient ways to access their data," said Jeff Janukowicz, Research Vice President, IDC. "High capacity QLC flash SSDs, like Nimbus Data's ExaDrive NL, help organizations migrate to enterprise-grade flash storage as cost-effectively as possible, while simplifying hybrid storage that blends HDDs and SSDs seamlessly to optimize cost and performance for their workloads."

The new UD70 PCIe Gen 3x4 is an all-around performer that's perfect for DIY system builders, casual gamers and video editors, and simply those who are looking to upgrade their PC. With 3D QLC NAND storage technology, the UD70 incorporates a much higher memory cell density, allowing for greater storage capacity on a smaller footprint - up to 2 TB. Plus, NVMe 1.3 support, read speeds up to 3,400 MB/s, and write speeds up to 3,000 MB/s make this M.2 2280 SSD a force to be reckoned with.

The UD70 is specially engineered with a dual self-cooling system that operates via active state power management (ASPM) and autonomous power state transition (APST). In addition, thermal throttling effectively monitors and controls the temperature to prevent sudden speed drops or damage of stored data caused by high temperature. With these advanced mechanisms in place, the UD70 will keep its cool to sustain a safe and optimal level of performance at all times, which translates to a longer and more reliable lifespan.

Enmotus is the company behind the FuzeDrive software on which the original AMD StoreMI technology is based, which juggles data among your various physical storage devices based on heat (frequency of access), improving performance. The company has now come up with its first hardware-product, the FuzeDrive NVMe SSD. Built in an M.2-2280 form-factor, the drive offers 1.6 TB of capacity, and combines a Phison E12-series controller with 96-layer 3D QLC NAND flash memory. The drive takes advantage of PCI-Express gen 3.0 x4.

Performance numbers of the FuzeDrive 1.6 TB SSD as rated by its makers include up to 3,470 MB/s sequential reads, up to 3,000 MB/s sequential writes; and an endurance rating of 5,000 TBW. The drive uses a 128 GB SLC cache to speed up write performance in moderate bursts. There's more to this drive than just its hard-product, Enmotus includes software that juggles data between the 128 GB pseudo-SLC and QLC areas; and of course the FuzeDrive software that lets you build volumes of up to 15 TB in size by throwing in fixed physical drives of any shape and size. Enmotus is pricing the FuzeDrive 1.6 TB NVMe SSD at $349.Update Jul 3rd: We've learned through Enmotus that this drive has a permanent 128 GB SLC cache that's exclusive of the 1.6 TB QLC user-area. We believe this drive is possibly a 2 TB QLC drive, in which a quarter of the user area is permanently assigned to work as SLC, with 30,000 P/E cycles. The FuzeDrive firmware transfers hot data between the SLC and QLC areas of the drive.

Samsung Electronics today introduced its second-generation quad-level cell (QLC) flash drive, the 870 QVO SATA SSD, that is setting a new standard for high-capacity consumer storage. Featuring an industry-leading capacity of up to eight terabytes (TB), the new SSD delivers an uncompromising mix of speed, storage capacity and reliability for mainstream and professional PC users.

In the past, consumers have had to choose between SSDs - which provide superior performance - and HDDs, which traditionally offer greater capacity. Samsung's 870 QVO SSD, however, is able to reliably offer the best of both worlds, making it an optimal choice for mainstream PC users who prioritize performance and value, as well as for professional users who require high levels of capacity.

Sabrent, a company focused on making storage devices and PC accessories, today announced the release of the world's first 8 terabyte NVMe SSD delivered in the M.2 form factor. The new SSD dubbed Rocket Q 8 TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD is a real treat for all SSD enthusiasts. Besides its staggering capacity, it has plenty of features as well. Built on top of 3D QLC NAND Flash memory chips, the Rocket Q SSD is supposed to deliver very high speeds on PCIe 3.0 x4 bus. With up to 3.4 GB/sec reads, and up to 3 GB/sec writes, the SSD is pushing the limits of the PCIe 3.0 x4 bus that it is designed to work for.

Rocking a Phison's E12S controller, it is supposed to maintain high speeds even on random 4K reads and writes. The company didn't reveal too many details about the performance, however, we can wait for some reviews. The SSD is PCIe 3.1 Compliant, NVMe 1.3 Compliant, and supports SMART and TRIM commands. With a purchase of this SSD, you get a free copy of Sabrent Acronis True Image for Sabrent Software for easy cloning. Pricing and availability are unknown.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced new client solid-state drives (SSDs) that bring NVMe performance to client computing applications, freeing laptops, workstations and other portables from legacy architectures that can rob devices of battery power, performance and productivity. The Micron 2300 SSD combines the power and density needed to drive compute-heavy applications in a compact form factor with the reduced power consumption modern mobile users demand. For the first time, Micron brings together NVMe performance and low-cost quad-level-cell (QLC) NAND in the Micron 2210 QLC SSD. It combines fast NVMe throughput and Micron's leadership in QLC technology to offer flash capabilities at hard disk drive-like price points while reducing power consumption by 15 times when compared to hard drives.

ADATA today announced the Falcon line of SSDs in the M.2-2280 form-factor, with NVMe 1.3 protocol support, leveraging PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface. The drives are characterized by an aluminium heatspreader on top of the NAND flash chips and controller, which isn't just an adhesive metal peal, but a 1 mm-thick metal plate. The Falcon comes in capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB; and uses 3D NAND flash memory (likely QLC).

The ADATA Falcon offers sequential speeds of up to 3,100 MB/s reads, with up to 1,500 MB/s writes; and up to 180,000 IOPS 4K random access. The 2 TB variant offers 1,200 TBW endurance, the 1 TB variant offers 600 TBW, the 512 GB variant 300 TBW, and the 256 GB variant 150 TBW. ADATA is backing the drives with a 5-year warranty. The company didn't reveal pricing.

China's plans for world domination include the country slowly retracting itself from its dependency on western companies' technologies, via heavy acceleration of plans for and production of a myriad of semiconductor technologies. One of the more important technologies amongst those due to its relative ease of manufacture and overall market value is, of course, NAND technology. And the days of China being undoubtedly behind other manufacturers' technologies seems to be coming to an end, with the countries' Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) 64-layer Xtacking TLC NAND design already achieving pretty impressive results compared to its mainstream counterparts.

Xtacking technology is expected to disrupt the $52 billion NAND memory market and its big players such as Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, Western Digital, and Intel. The technology separates periphery circuits and memory cell operations towards a separate wafer, which allows for increased performance and throughput compared to other designs. Senior technical fellow Jeongdong Choe at Ottawa, Canada-based TechInsights (a company specializing in reverse-engineering semiconductor technology) has told EE Times YMTC's 64-layer, 256 Gb die bit density is 4.41 Gb/mm, which is higher than the Samsung equivalent 256 Gb die at 3.42 Gb/mm.

Mainland Chinese semiconductor firm Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), has reportedly struck a NAND flash memory chip supply deal with popular solid-state storage products brand Lexar, which specializes in SSDs, memory cards, and USB flash drives; and more importantly, enjoys a prominent market presence in the West. Micron Technology had, in 2017, sold the Lexar brand to Longsys, a Chinese electronics conglomerate. YMTC's first products sold to Lexar will be a 512 Gbit 128-layer 3D QLC NAND flash memory chip for Lexar's nCard line of microSDXC cards, which ships in 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB densities, offering transfer speeds of up to 90 MB/s reads, with up to 70 MB/s writes.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced new Micron 5210 ION enterprise SATA SSD capacity and features, solidifying Micron's leadership in QLC technology volume production. The world's first QLC solid-state drive (SSD), the Micron 5210 is based on the company's advanced QLC NAND technology and quickly replacing legacy hard disk drives (HDDs).

From SQL and NoSQL databases to big data and analytics, object stores and vSAN capacity tiers, customers are now reaping the benefits of NAND flash on performance-sensitive workloads that used to live on HDDs. Rapidly supplanting 10K HDDs, the Micron 5210 delivers 175 times faster random reads, 30 times faster random writes, two times more sequential throughput, and three times more energy efficiency than the largest 10K RPM HDDs - all at a compelling price point.

Here's the first picture of the Crucial P2, the company's second M.2 NVMe client SSD series based on QLC NAND flash memory, and successor to the Crucial P1. The drive sticks to PCI-Express gen 3.0 x4 as its host interface, but increases sequential read speeds over the P1. Available in 250 GB and 500 GB models to begin with, the P2 offers sequential transfer rates of up to 2100 MB/s reads with up to 1150 MB/s writes for the 250 GB variant; and up to 2300 MB/s reads with up to 940 MB/s writes on the 500 GB variant. There's no word on whether the P2 uses the same QLC NAND chips as the P1, but we do spy a DRAM cache chip. Endurance of the P2 is rated at 150 TBW, and Crucial is backing them with 5-year warranties when they come out in the near future. Pricing in Europe is expected to be about 59€ for the 250 GB model, and 70€ for the 500 GB one.

Update 15:54 UTC: Crucial launched the drive Stateside at $54.99 for the 250 GB model, and $64.99 for the 500 GB model. We've added more images.