Intel has big plans with its new 25nm NAND flash division this year. It starts in Q4 2010 with 160GB, 300GB and 600GB X25-M drives and it continues early next year with some 1.8-inch drives.
The new 1.8-inch drives are 25nm MLC based and they will sound the end of life bell for Intel's
50nm MLC as well as remaining 34nm MLC 1.8- and 2.5-inch drives.
The new
capacities are 160GB that will replace 80GB and 160GB 50nm as well as 34nm MLC based
drives and the new big 25nm 1.8-inch drive will grow to 300GB
capacity.
We are not
sure who are the customers for these 1.8-inch drives, as they definitely are
small and they can store a lot of data. We can only hope that they will end
up in some camcorders and home Blu-ray and similar devices. Some computers will
definitely benefit from 1.8 inch drives but most manufacturers still use mainly
2.5-inch drives for their hard drives.