Intel-Micron Flash Technologies Ships 25nm NAND Flash: Bigger USB Keys, SSDs Coming

Process technologies continue to shrink at an alarming rate. It wasn't long ago that 65nm seemed tiny, and now Intel is shipping out NAND Flash based around 25nm. In short, shrinking the production size enables manufacturers to squeeze more memory, power, etc. onto an existing form factor. In other words, CPU sockets and DIMM slots won't change sizes very often, so the goal is to simply put more onto the modules we have.

IM Flash Technologies, which is a joint venture between Intel and Micron that is targeted for producing NAND flash memory, announced in late January that they were working hard to develop 25 nanometer Flash memory. It was neat, but easy to brush off, since nothing new was actually shipping to consumers. Companies make these wild breakthrough claims all the time, but this one's different. Just a few months after the debut, Intel has now declared that same 25 nanometer memory ready for shipment, meaning that it's ready to make an impact in the market. Larger capacity memory products, here we come.

Starting this week, Intel-Micron Flash Technologes are in mass production of the 25 nanometer NAND Flash, and volume shipments have commenced. That makes IMFT the first to "sample, and now to ship in production, 25nm NAND using the world's smallest, most advanced manufacturing process technology." The 8GB 25 nanometer memory chip measures just 167mm2 and can hold up to 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos or 8 hours of video, and it should be showing up in USB keys, SD cards, Flash drives in camcorders and even SSDs soon.

Intel announced today that Intel-Micron Flash Technologies are in mass production of their breakthrough 25-nanometer (nm) NAND flash memory and Intel is shipping in volume to customers. Announced in February, IMFT was the first to sample, and now to ship in production, 25nm NAND using the world's smallest, most advanced manufacturing process technology. The 8 gigabyte (GB) 25nm NAND flash memory chip measures just 167mm2 and can hold up to 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos or 8 hours of video. NAND Flash memory is used in USB memory keys and SD cards for data storage in digital camcorders and cameras, as well as in smart phones, personal music players and solid-state drives.