Samsung may introduce 400-layer NAND in 2026 [RUMOR]

Samsung has plans to introduce NAND memories with 400 layers or more as early as 2026. At least that’s what the leak of an alleged company roadmap indicates, which the Korea Economic Daily website claims to have obtained access to.

Samsung currently produces NAND memories with its 9th generation QLC process, called V9. The technology is capable of delivering components with 286 layers, so the company’s idea would be to almost double the number of layers it can stack on its NAND chips in two years.

The number would become possible with the introduction of the next generation of Samsung’s process, the V10. Using a new component bonding technology, the company could produce the controller and memory cells on separate wafers and then join them together into a single component.

The roadmap, according to the Korea Economic Daily, also mentions the generation still following the V10 technology, which would be the V11. In this case, the advance would not be so much focused on an increase in the number of layers, but rather on improving the speed of the components, which could increase by up to 50%.

Samsung wants to lead in NAND for AI

As expected, AI seems to be Samsung’s main focus in the development of NAND. The company wants to create products with so many layers to meet the growing demand for larger storage capacities, caused by the popularity of the technology.

The people at Korea Economic Daily even mention that the company is planning an SSD subscription service for tech companies. Samsung’s idea would be to take advantage of the high costs of AI servers to create a new “storage rental” market.

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Finally, the site recalls that Samsung has ambitious plans for 2030. The South Korean company intends to break the thousand-layer barrier in NAND memories by then, as part of its plan to become a leader in the semiconductor segment.