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Intel and Micron Technology on introduced a high-density chip that the companies say can pack 32 GB of storage on a smaller footprint than other similar devices.
The companies claim their latest product can drive capacities beyond 256 GB in a standard 1.8-inch form factor for solid-state drives. Intel and Micron also plan to introduce lower-density products by the end of the year.
The NAND device is aimed at solid-state drives, which are increasingly being offered at a premium in notebooks to deliver faster boot times and more durability and reliability than traditional hard disk drives. In building the chip, used a 34-nanometer manufacturing process that increases the density of the device in order to cram more memory in a smaller space. “This new 32-GB device provides the best bit storage density available in the industry.
The new devices are smaller than the size of a thumbnail but can store more than 2,000 digital photos or up to 1,000 songs. The chips are also available in a two eight-die stacked package to deliver 64 GB of storage.
The companies expect to ship samples of the latest chip to customers in June. Volume production is expected in the second half this year.
While solid-state drives have a number of advantages over hard disk drives. SSDs use up less battery power than HDDs, the biggest disadvantage is price.