While storage news isn’t sexy, everybody needs storage, even if that storage happens to be in the cloud.

In a rather exciting bit of news, Micron has announced its all new 176-layer 3D NAND and the technology could make 100TB+ more common and more affordable.

But those are just some of the benefits this tech could offer. Micron says that its new 176-layer replacement gate architecture leads to a die that is 30 percent smaller.

Micron likened this to fitting the Burj Khalifa into the same height as the Eiffel Tower, not the best analogy, but we get what the firm is trying to get across.

With all that density the 176L architecture also leads to better read and write latency (35 percent improvement according to Micron) and a 33 percent improvement in transfer rate. This is accomplished with a reduced program time and algorithm complexity so that write and power efficiency are maximised.

What’s more is that Micron claims its replacement gate architecture can lead to better endurance which in turn means a product with a longer life-span.

This is good news not only for those of us running businesses or playing games, it’s also good news for data centres.

According to TechRadar, the 176L 3D NAND chips are already in volume production and shipping in Micron’s Crucial SSDs.

But as with most things, whether drives carrying these chips will be affordable is an unknown.

The 100TB ExaDrive from Nimbus Data costs an eye-watering $40 000, so if Micron can bring prices down with this new tech, data centres might starting shuffling away from mechanical hard drives.

You can read more about Micron’s new 176L 3D NAND, including a white paper, here.

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