SK Hynix aims for a rebound in business performance in the second half of the year through the mass production of the world's highest-layer 238-layer 4D NAND.

SK Hynix announced on the 8th that it has begun mass production of 238-layer 4D NAND flash and is proceeding with the product certification process with an overseas customer that manufactures smartphones. The company previously succeeded in developing the world's highest-layer NAND, 238 layers, last August.

An official from SK Hynix emphasized, “We developed client SSD (cSSD) solutions for smartphones and PCs based on 238-layer NAND and began mass production in May. As we have secured world-class competitiveness in terms of cost, performance, and quality in 238-layer as well as the existing 176-layer, we expect these products to serve as a driving force for improving the company’s business performance in the second half of the year.”

The 238-layer NAND, implemented as the world's smallest chip, offers 34% higher production efficiency than the previous generation 176-layer NAND, significantly improving cost competitiveness. Data transfer speeds have increased by 50% to 2.4 Gb (gigabits) per second. With read and write performance also improved by approximately 20%, the company expressed confidence that it can provide enhanced performance to smartphone and PC customers using this product.

Once SK Hynix completes certification with smartphone customers, it will supply 238-layer NAND starting with mobile products. Afterwards, we plan to expand the application range of 238-layer NAND to PC SSDs and high-capacity SSD products for data centers that support PCIe 5.0.

SK Hynix Vice President Kim Jeom-soo (in charge of 238-layer NAND) said, “We will continue to break through the limits of NAND technology and strengthen our competitiveness so that we can make a bigger turnaround than anyone else during the upcoming market rebound.”