Samsung Electronics' V9 NAND Flash QLC Version's Delay and Impact on Pyeongtaek P4 Plant

TapTechNews July 31, according to the report of ZDNetKorea, a South Korean media, the QLC version of Samsung Electronics' V9 NAND flash memory has not yet obtained mass production permission, which has affected the production line construction plan of the Pyeongtaek P4 plant.

Samsung Electronics announced in April this year that the 1Tb capacity TLC version of its V9 NAND flash memory has achieved mass production, and the corresponding QLC version will enter the mass production stage in the second half of this year.

However, until now, Samsung Electronics has not issued the PRA (TapTechNews note: it should refer to Production Readiness Approval) mass production readiness approval for V9 QLC NAND flash memory. And the QLC flash memory with higher capacity and lower cost is currently the hot spot of the storage demand of AI inference servers.

With the uncertain prospect of the star product, there are different voices within Samsung Electronics on whether to use the first stage of the Pyeongtaek P4 plant entirely for NAND production.

According to the previous plan of Samsung Electronics, the Pyeongtaek P4 plant will become a comprehensive semiconductor production center, which includes four stages and can manufacture logic, NAND, DRAM and other products,

where the first stage of the P4 plant is for NAND production, the second stage is for logic foundry, and the third and fourth stages are for DRAM manufacturing.

However, due to the insufficient number of wafer foundry orders, and the strong demand for DRAM memory products represented by HBM, Samsung Electronics has adjusted the investment plan of the Pyeongtaek P4 plant in the first half of the year, built the DRAM memory production line first, and postponed the construction of the logic foundry line.

Samsung Electronics currently has a NAND production capacity of 10,000 wafers per month in the first stage of the Pyeongtaek P4 plant, and it previously proposed the goal of increasing the monthly wafer input to 45,000 wafers by next year.

But the V9 QLC NAND has not obtained mass production permission in time, resulting in some insiders believing that part of the construction area of the first stage should be used for DRAM production with a clearer prospect.