SanDisk Unveils a New Density Record with Flash Memory

SanDisk announced to have developed the world's smallest 128 Gb NAND flash memory chip currently in production. The semiconductor unit can store 128 billion individual bits of information on a single silicon die of 170 mm2 in size ( a 1.3 cm square). To reach such density, SanDisk is using a 19 nm engraving process technology to generate a X3 chip (3 bits per cell).
This memory chip offers write performance up to 18 MB/s. It is relatively slow when compared to other Flash memory, but this is linked to the X3 technology. Increasing density and storage for a define volume and size has a cost. Lifetime of such chip remains unknown, but thinner engraving and higher density would normally lead to... shorter lifetime, and/or reliability. So, it could be restricted to USB key and probably not demanding solid state units, such as SSD.