Kioxia and Sandisk Debut 10th‑Gen QLC 3D Flash, Boosting AI and Cloud Storage Efficiency

10th-generation QLC 3D flash memory represents a major leap forward for AI storage architectures, cloud platforms, and data intensive innovations

Future of Memory and Storage Conference (FMS) – Kioxia Corporation, a subsidiary of Kioxia Holdings Corporation (TOKYO: 285A) and Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK) today unveiled their next-generation Quad-Level-Cell (QLC) 3D flash memory technology, which delivers up to 60% increase in bit density compared to their 8th-generation, surpassing 37 Gb/mm2 and setting the industry benchmark for bit density, performance and power efficiency.

Leveraging the companies’ revolutionary CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) technology which fabricates CMOS logic and the memory array on separate wafers before bonding them together with high-precision wafer-to-wafer alignment, the new generation improves read and write bandwidth compared to the 8th-generation 3D flash memory and becomes the industry’s first QLC 3D flash memory technology to reach a 4.8 Gb/s 3 interface.

Additional interface enhancements improve I/O data-out transfer power efficiency. These large power efficiency upgrades directly address the power and cooling challenges of modern AI and cloud infrastructure.

Chief Technology Officer at Kioxia, Hideshi Miyajima, said: “As AI continues to underpin the advancement of society, its applications are expanding from generative AI to agent-based and physical AI, while the use of data is becoming increasingly diverse and sophisticated. QLC technology enables the efficient storage of rapidly expanding data volumes, helping deliver greater performance and scalability for AI systems. Kioxia will accelerate development toward the commercialization of its 10th-generation flash memory products incorporating QLC technology.”

Chief Technology Officer at Sandisk, Alper Ilkbahar, said: "As AI training, inference, and hyperscale datacenter workloads drive unprecedented growth in data generation, the storage industry faces increasing pressure to deliver greater capacity, higher performance, and improved energy efficiency. By redefining the performance and efficiency envelope of QLC NAND, our 10th-generation QLC 3D flash memory delivers simultaneous gains in density, bandwidth, and energy efficiency and establishes a new paradigm for high-capacity flash storage to provide a scalable foundation for next-generation infrastructure applications.”

Key 10th-generation QLC 3D flash memory technology highlights include:

• 332-layer architecture and optimized floorplan design deliver up to 60% increase in bit density, achieving >37 Gb/mm² compared to the 8th-generation.
• 4.8 Gb/s 3 NAND interface enabled by Toggle DDR6.0 and the Separate Command Address (SCA) protocol to unlock the full potential of fast interface.
• CMOS-directly-Bonded-to-Array (CBA) architecture enhances density scaling, performance, and manufacturing efficiency.
• Power-Isolated Low-Tapped Termination (PI-LTT) improves I/O data-out transfer power efficiency.

About Kioxia

Kioxia is a world leader in memory solutions, dedicated to the development, production and sale of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). In April 2017, its predecessor Toshiba Memory was spun off from Toshiba Corporation, the company that invented NAND flash memory in 1987. Kioxia is committed to uplifting the world with “memory” by offering products, services and systems that create choice for customers and memory-based value for society. Kioxia's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH™, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems.

About Sandisk

Sandisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) delivers innovative Flash solutions and advanced memory technologies that meet people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward. Follow Sandisk on Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube. Join TeamSandisk on Instagram.

As of August 3, 2026, based on Kioxia and Sandisk survey.

Technology wherein each CMOS wafer and cell array wafer are manufactured separately in their optimized condition and then bonded together.

1Gb/s is calculated as 1,000,000,000 bits/second. This value is obtained under our specific test environment, and may vary depending on use conditions.

Sandisk the Sandisk logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sandisk Corporation or its affiliates in the US and/or other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Product specifications subject to change without notice. Pictures shown may vary from actual products.

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Sandisk and SK hynix Drive AI Infrastructure Standardization with High Bandwidth Flash Specification

Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK) and SK hynix Inc. today announced the release of the HBFTM (High Bandwidth Flash) technical specification through the Open Compute Project (OCP), advancing the workstream to drive HBF standardization for the AI inference era, just six months after the consortium began work in February.

The specification was developed through the HBF technology workstream under OCP, with Sandisk and SK hynix serving as primary contributors. Notably, Google and Tenstorrent joined as consortium members during this standardization process, contributing significantly to technology validation and the establishment of the standard. The specification provides companies and developers designing AI inference systems and accelerators with a common technical framework for incorporating HBF technology where larger, near-compute memory capacity and higher bandwidth are needed to improve power and performance metrics and help reduce total cost of ownership.

Modern AI inference systems need high-bandwidth memory positioned close to compute cores, while the demand for greater near-compute memory capacity continues to grow with the requirements of large language models and emerging AI workloads. HBF technology is designed to address this need by combining high bandwidth with high capacity, helping data center system designers improve interactivity and throughput during model serving.

“AI inference is creating a new set of memory requirements, and HBF technology is designed to meet that moment,” said Alper Ilkbahar, Chief Technology Officer, Sandisk. “This specification helps give system designers a practical path to bring high-capacity, high-bandwidth memory closer to compute, while enabling more flexible architectures. It is an important milestone for the HBF ecosystem and for the next generation of AI systems built to improve token economics at scale.”

The specification defines system interface, electrical and other technical guidelines for designing systems that interact with and use HBF technology, including basic performance expectations, the xPU-HBF host interface, reliability and packaging guidance for an HBF die stack, and a software user guide for read and write operations. As one of the first technical standards of its kind in the memory and storage industry, the specification helps give AI compute system designers added flexibility to build systems where HBF technology can coexist with High Bandwidth Memory, helping support ecosystem readiness. The specification was released within the Open Compute Project framework, meaning the information is openly available to the industry. Sandisk and SK hynix proactively published the specification to position HBF technology as the de facto standard in the rapidly evolving AI storage market. Their strategy involves fostering an early-stage ecosystem, increasing the visibility of HBF technology’s adoption for customers, and accelerating market expansion and technological maturity through open collaboration and membership in the consortium.

Sandisk Keynote: NAND - The Versatile & Scalable Foundation of the AI Era

On Wednesday, August 5, at 11:40 a.m. PT, Sandisk’s keynote at The Future of Memory and Storage Conference (FMS) at the Santa Clara Convention Center, will explore the importance of system-level optimization and NAND in enabling AI inference at scale. The keynote will feature Sandisk’s Jim Elliott, chief revenue officer; Khurram Ismail, chief product officer; and Alper Ilkbahar, chief technology officer.

FMS Panel Discussion: Breaking the Memory Wall with High Bandwidth Flash

On Thursday, August 6 at 9:45 a.m. PT, Sandisk, SK hynix, and Google will present a panel discussion hosted by Thomas Coughlin, President of Coughlin Associates, at The Future of Memory and Storage Conference (FMS) at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Conference Room D. The session will discuss how HBF technology aims to redefine the memory hierarchy by providing near-memory speeds with the density and persistence of high bandwidth flash. The panel will bring together experts from HBF solution providers as well as a Hyperscale-AI Infrastructure provider, to dissect the HBF technology usage and development needed for success, including Architectural Integration, Technical Challenges, Standardization timelines, performance and economics.

About Sandisk

Sandisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) delivers innovative Flash solutions and advanced memory technologies that meet people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward.