December 17, 2020
2017
1. Intel released Optane H20 hybrid SSD solid state drive, which can nearly double the speed of PC
In the morning news on December 17, at the 2020 Memory Storage Day event, Intel released six new memory and storage new products in one go, including SSDD7-P5510 and SSDD5-P5316 for the data center market, and the world's first 144-layer stacking All QLCNAND flash memory supports PCIe4.0. One of the most noteworthy is the second-generation Optane hybrid solid-state drive "H20".
Intel released the first-generation Optane hybrid SSD H10 in April 2019, which combines Optane with traditional QLCNAND flash memory. Compared with pure NAND SSDs, it can search and find files with a very fast response speed and faster Start the application program and transfer data at PCIe high speed.
According to Intel’s official statement, on the 11th-generation Core i7 thin and light notebooks, the addition of the Optane Hybrid SSD H20 can speed up document opening by up to 35% and game startup speed by up to 31% compared to just using PCIe3.0TLCSSD. The opening speed of authoring files is accelerated by up to 51%.
The overall design of the second-generation H20 is the same as that of the first generation. It is also M.22280 single-sided form specification, supports PCIe3.0x4, NVMe, integrates 32GB Optane storage, 512GB/1TB QLC flash storage.
However, Optane, NAND flash memory master, Optane Media, and QLCNAND flash memory are all upgraded to the latest generation, and they also support Pyrite2.0 security features.
The specific indicators have not yet been announced. You can refer to the previous generation's data. The previous generation H10's continuous reading and writing is up to 2.4GB/s and 1.8GB/s. But it should be noted that H20 only supports TIgerLake11th generation Core U series processors, 500 series chipsets, and requires RTS18.1 version driver.
2. Develop 5bitPLCSSD to replace mechanical hard drives
Intel also announced several new SSDs, including 670p and Optane H20 hybrid solid state drives. In addition, Intel also said that it is developing 5bitPLCSSD, which will replace HDD in most use cases.
As shown in the figure above, with the development of SSD technology, the cost of solid state drives is approaching HDD.
Intel is beginning to sell its NAND business to SK Hynix. During the transaction, Intel still plans to operate its SSD business. All existing products and support will be transferred to SK Hynix after the transaction is completed. Currently, Intel’s storage department is doing business as usual, and Intel said it is developing PLC flash memory. However, while the company is clearly optimistic about the prospects of PLC, it did not provide details on when the new flash memory will be available.
In October of this year, SK Hynix announced that it would pay US$9 billion to acquire Intel’s NAND flash memory and storage business. The acquisition includes Intel’s NAND SSD business, NAND components and wafer business, and its NAND flash memory manufacturing plant in Dalian, China. According to sources from Intel, Intel will retain the Intel Optane business and plans to invest the funds obtained from this transaction into key businesses with long-term growth potential.
SK Hynix and Intel will strive to obtain the necessary government agency permits before the end of 2021. After obtaining the relevant license, SK Hynix will purchase the NANDSSD business (including NANDSSD-related intellectual property rights and employees) and the Dalian factory from Intel by paying a consideration of USD 7 billion for the first phase. Thereafter, it is expected that at the time of final delivery in March 2025, SK Hynix will pay the balance of US$2 billion to acquire other related assets from Intel.
