Seeing demand for NAND flash storage rising and memory makers accelerating their development of 3D NAND flash products, Intel is planning to begin mass producing new 3D NAND flash products in 2017 to compete for datacenter, professional, consumer and embedded markets, which may pose a challenge for existing players including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Toshiba and China-based players, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

For its PCI Express-based solid state drive (SSD) product line, following the releases of its DC D3700 and D3600-series NVMe SSDs in 2016, Intel will add a top-end series with a lot more storage space in the third quarter of 2017, featuring a 2.5-inch size, U.2 interface and storage options of 2TB, 4TB and 8TB.

For February and March 2017, Intel's DC P4500/P4600/P4600 LP/P4500 LP will enter mass production and their end-of-life-cycle (EOL) is set for the first quarter of 2019.

Intel will add DC S4600/S4500-series and the entry-level DC S3110-series to its SATA-based SSD product line in the second quarter

For the professional market, Intel will launch PCIe/NVMe-based Pro 7600P and SATA-based Pro 5450s in the fourth quarter. For the consumer market, following the release of the 600p in September 2016, the CPU giant will release a BGA-version 600p and SATA-based 545s in the third quarter of 2017.

For the embedded market, Intel has prepared the 5430S-series for April 2017 and an M.2 form factor-based version of the 5430S for July 2017. In the third quarter, Intel will release the 20nm MLC-based E 6500p, and existing E 5400s/5410-series will both enter EOL in the first quarter of 2018, while the E 6000p will stop supply in the third quarter of 2018.

In addition to developing 3D NAND flash, Intel has also been pushing its Optane SSD using 3D XPoint technology. Intel already gave related engineering samples to clients in the third quarter and the SSDs will be ready to enter mass production in the second quarter of 2017. Intel will push the SSDs mainly for high-end servers and PC products.

Although Intel's SSD business is currently still seeing losses, the company's operations are expected to turn profitable in 2017 with 3D XPoint memory joining its product line in the first half of 2017.

By: DocMemory
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