100,000 P/E cycles reached

5G and AIoT manufacturers who are invested in large-scale data collection and analysis, including those demanding higher capacities, higher performance and higher endurance, will quickly see the advantages of this development. According to Allied Market Research, “the global 3D NAND flash memory market size was valued at $12.38bn in 2020, and is projected to reach $78.42 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 20.3% from 2021 to 2030.”

The endurance of any NAND Flash product can be measured in P/E cycles. Every time a write or erase action is performed, the Flash cell will suffer irreparable damage. In the industrial world, 3,000 P/E cycles was considered quite a competitive number. But with increasing demands for greater endurance thresholds in applications such as 5G O-RAN and edge computing switches, the market was hungry for more – while still recognising the paramount importance of cost-effectiveness. Apacer’s crack team of firmware experts tackled the problem and were able to tweak the technology to deliver 100,000 P/E cycles. Careful cell distribution management of the 3D TLC structure was necessary in order to correctly adjust the voltage delta and charge sensing. Furthermore, powered by carefully selected industrial grade NAND components, the firmware structure is specifically optimised to enhance NAND flash stability during daily operations, and the error handling algorithm is significantly improved to avoid any unexpected ECC errors.

An innovation like this also benefits from Apacer’s long-term cooperation with some of the world’s top component and material suppliers, and long-term stable component supply is assured. In fact, Apacer’s SATA SH250 and PCIe PH920 series are currently available with 100,000 P/E cycles in a variety of specifications. Gaming, surveillance, edge computing and 5G smart IoT operations will all benefit from the increase in endurance. For manufacturers building products that are planned for use in challenging environments, these products are also available with established value-adding features such as wide-temperature operation, which allows devices to function smoothly even in temperatures as low as -40 or as high as 85 degrees Celsius. This is just another way Apacer is demonstrating its core value of “Becoming Better Partners.”