Samsung Electronics announced Thursday that it has begun mass production of 64-layer, 256-Gigabit V-NAND flash memory chips and will apply the cutting-edge technology to the company’s lineup of storage solutions for servers, PCs and mobile applications.

Samsung had been producing the latest V-NAND chips for a limited number of customers since January, but the company had not made it public in order to first gauge real demand accurately and secure its production capacity.

To gain a competitive edge in the memory market, Samsung intends to expand production of the fourth-generation V-NAND chips to above 50 percent of its monthly NAND production by the end of the year, the company said. 

The South Korean tech titan is set to start operating a newly built semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in late June, and the plant is highly expected to be a production hub for the 64-layer V-NAND chips, according to industry sources.

The Samsung 64-layer 3-bit 256-GB V-NAND features a data transfer speed of 1 gigabits per second, which is the fastest among currently available NAND flash memory. The new 64-layer V-NAND provides more than a 30 percent productivity gain compared to the 48-layer 256 GB V-NAND that preceded it.

“We will keep developing next-generation V-NAND products in sync with the global IT industry so that we can contribute to the timeliest launches of new systems and services in bringing a higher level of satisfaction to consumers,” said Kye Hyun-kyung, executive vice president of the flash product and technology team at Samsung Electronics.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)