Kioxia Corporation, a subsidiary of Kioxia Holdings Corporation, and Sandisk Corporation have announced their next-generation 9th-generation high-performance 2Tb Quad-Level Cell (QLC) 3D flash memory technology. Engineered specifically to tackle the expanding data and throughput demands of artificial intelligence infrastructure, the architectural advancement provides a capital-efficient manufacturing framework designed to keep pace with rapid AI workloads.
By utilizing the companies’ proprietary CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) architecture-a manufacturing methodology where CMOS wafers and memory cell array wafers are produced separately under optimized conditions before being bonded together-the platform pairs an advanced CMOS layer with a high-density memory array. The integration delivers significant performance gains, enabling faster deployment cycles for data-heavy enterprise and cloud environments.
The technology features a 6-plane configuration, along with performance improvements internally, offering improved read and write bandwidth, while lowering power consumption on each operation. Moreover, the technology is capable of supporting a NAND interface rate of 4.8 Gb/s, which represents an improvement by 33 percent in throughput compared to 8th generation chips.
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Chief Technology Officer at Kioxia, Hideshi Miyajima, said, “As AI continues to underpin the advancement of society, its applications are expanding from generative AI to agent-based and physical AI, while the use of data is becoming increasingly diverse and sophisticated. By leveraging its proven memory cell technology together with the latest CMOS technology, Kioxia is accelerating the development of its 9th-generation flash memory. This approach enables us to deliver high performance while keeping investment costs relatively low.”
“The rapid adoption of AI is accelerating the transition of storage interfaces, creating demand for memory technologies that can evolve more quickly than in previous technology cycles,” said Alper Ilkbahar, Chief Technology Officer at Sandisk. “Our 9th-generation QLC technology demonstrates the unique flexibility of CBA, to accelerate innovation by independently advancing CMOS and memory technologies. We are bringing new capabilities to market more quickly with exceptional capital efficiency.”
Advancing the 3D Flash Memory Roadmap
The launch of the 9th-generation QLC technology represents a major milestone in 3D flash memory scaling, underscoring the long-standing technical alliance between Kioxia and Sandisk. By maximizing the architectural flexibility of their shared CBA platform, both companies continue to advance non-volatile memory density and performance to help global enterprise clients address the intense storage demands of the AI era.