Intel's 34nm-based 320GB solid state drive creeps closer to reality
Hankering for an SSD that's as big as your traditional HDD? So is Intel, or so we hear. In fact, we've been hearing whispers that a capacious 320GB solid state drive was in the works since January …
Context & Ripple Effects
Intel's current mainstream SSD tops out at 160GB, and the December 2008 launch left reviewers complaining more about price than performance — the drive cost far more per gigabyte than the hard drives it replaced. Since then the capacity race has run without Intel: Samsung showed a 256GB drive as early as May 2008, and Toshiba claimed the industry lead that December with a 512GB drive built on 43nm MLC NAND.
The whisper Engadget is picking up now — reportedly circulating since January — is that Intel will answer with a 320GB model built on 34nm NAND rather than the 50nm process behind its existing line. The shrink is the point: denser NAND lets Intel roughly double capacity within the same drive footprint while cutting its cost per gigabyte, which is where its drives have been most vulnerable.
First-order effects
- Buyers holding out for an SSD sized like a laptop hard drive get a credible Intel option, closing the gap with Toshiba's 512GB flagship and Samsung's 256GB drive.
- Intel's own 160GB drive becomes the awkward middle child: once a 34nm 320GB ships, the older part either drops in price or loses its slot at the top of Intel's lineup.
Second-order effects
- A 34nm shrink cuts Intel's raw NAND cost, putting pressure on Toshiba and Samsung to follow with their own process transitions or compete on price in a segment where Intel's brand has carried a premium.
- Notebook makers weighing SSD options gain a second high-capacity supplier candidate, weakening the negotiating position of whoever currently holds the big-capacity design wins.
Third-order effects
- If each NAND shrink keeps roughly doubling capacity at lower cost per gigabyte, SSDs move steadily toward the size-and-price envelope where they displace hard drives in mainstream notebooks rather than remaining a premium niche.
- Capacity leadership stops being a static claim — Toshiba's 'first 512GB' headline from December 2008 shows how fast these records turn over — and competition shifts to who can shrink fastest and hold margins through each transition.
The trend: NAND process shrinks are turning SSD capacity into a moving target, with each generation pulling solid state storage closer to hard-drive sizes and prices in consumer laptops.