Solidigm's Dalian wafer fab, which became part of SK Hynix with the acquisition of Intel's NAND flash and SSD business, has decided to extend the use of the FG (Floating Gate) NAND flash process for a period due to the robust sales of its QLC enterprise-grade solid-state drives. The plant, currently a major producer of 192-layer FG structure NAND flash, accounts for approximately 30% of SK Hynix's total NAND production capacity.

In the realm of NAND flash memory, the Floating Gate (FG) and Charge Trap (CT) technologies have been the two main approaches to storing binary data, with the latter becoming more prevalent in 3D NAND due to its lower interference effect compared to the FG structure traditionally used in 2D NAND. However, the FG structure remains advantageous for higher bit-per-cell QLC NAND flash, which Solidigm specializes in.

As one of the few major NAND manufacturers still utilizing the FG technology, Solidigm follows a different path than its parent company, SK Hynix, incurring higher development costs. Contrary to previous industry speculations that SK Hynix would shift Solidigm to the CT technology after finalizing the second phase of the Intel deal, the increasing demand for AI servers has made QLC NAND, known for its larger capacity and lower cost per disk, a focal point in the industry, thereby improving Solidigm's performance.

Citing sources close to the matter, SK Hynix is not motivated to push for a technological shift at Solidigm's Dalian facility. Instead, the company is set to increase investment in the plant to expedite the development of PLC NAND flash and 128TB enterprise-grade solid-state drives, reinforcing their commitment to the FG NAND flash process.