Intel reportedly working on a 20TB QLC 2.5-inch SSD
Intel reportedly working on a 20TB QLC 2.5-inch SSD
What QLC offers is increased amounts of storage density per NAND cell, with QLC being capable of storing four bits of information per memory cell. This memory type allows SSD makers to offer higher memory capacities in smaller form factors, facilitating the creation of compact storage mediums.
So far, Intel has been quiet on the QLC front, though reports from both Anandtech and PC Perspective have stated that the company is working on an enterprise-grade QLC SSD that can offer 20TB of storage in a 2.5-inch form factor. Remember that the 2.5-inch form factor is what is used in most of today’s SATA SSDs, though Intel is expected to make use of the thicker 15mm 2.5-inch form factor to create their monstrous 20TB SSD.
For the client/consumer market, Intel is also reportedly working on QLC-based SSDs, which aim to offer end users attractive price points thanks to QLC’s increased storage density. Leaked roadmaps have stated that Intel has a QLC-based 660p SSD in the works, offering SATA surpassing NVMe speeds in an M.2 form factor.
It is likely that Intel’s planned 20TB QLC drive will be the largest QLC drive that the company plans to ship at launch, though Samsung has already released a larger 30.72 TB TLC-based SSD in the same form factor.
It is possible that Intel has larger QLC-based SSDs planned for the future, especially if they manage to upgrade their QLC technology from a 64-layer 3D stack to a 96-layer stack, the same layer count as Intel’s latest TLC NAND offerings.
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