MLC SSDs Fade as TLC and QLC Dominate AI Storage
â–Ľ Summary
– MLC NAND Flash is now exclusively used in niche markets like industrial, automotive, medical, and networking equipment due to its endurance and reliability.
– Major suppliers like Samsung are exiting the MLC market, causing a significant supply contraction and sharp price increases as buyers secure remaining stock.
– The global MLC NAND capacity is projected to decline by 41.7% in 2026 as manufacturers reallocate capital to more advanced TLC and QLC technologies.
– Companies like Macronix are filling some supply gaps by shifting production to MLC NAND, which may increase pricing support for related NOR Flash products.
– TLC and QLC NAND are becoming the mainstream technologies for consumer and enterprise storage, favored for their cost-per-bit advantages despite trade-offs in endurance.
The landscape of data storage is undergoing a significant transformation, with TLC and QLC NAND Flash technologies now dominating the market for both consumer and enterprise solid-state drives. This shift is largely driven by the relentless demand for higher capacities at lower costs, particularly to support data-intensive applications and the expanding ecosystem of artificial intelligence tools. As a result, older MLC (Multi-Level Cell) technology is rapidly exiting mainstream storage, finding its remaining role in a handful of specialized industrial sectors.
According to recent industry analysis, MLC NAND is now almost exclusively serving markets where extreme reliability and long-term supply stability are non-negotiable. These include industrial control systems, automotive electronics, medical equipment, and critical networking infrastructure. In these areas, the lengthy qualification processes for components and the need for predictable performance over many years outweigh the importance of achieving the lowest possible cost per gigabyte. The overall growth potential for MLC in these niches, however, is limited, making it an unattractive focus for large-scale manufacturers.
A major catalyst for this change has been the strategic withdrawal of leading NAND producers from the MLC segment. Samsung’s decision to discontinue its MLC products, with final shipments expected by mid-2026, removed the market’s single largest supplier. Other major players like Kioxia, SK hynix, and Micron have similarly scaled back, largely limiting production to fulfilling existing contractual obligations for key clients. This collective move is a deliberate reallocation of manufacturing capital and research toward more advanced and economically scalable TLC and QLC processes.
Industry forecasts suggest the global production capacity for MLC NAND will see a dramatic year-over-year decline of over 40% by 2026. This substantial reduction is not a temporary blip but a structural shift. As the international giants pull back, companies specializing in embedded and high-reliability memory are gaining influence. For instance, Macronix, a company traditionally known for NOR Flash memory, has redirected some of its production capacity to supply MLC NAND to customers facing shortages. This shift has the secondary effect of tightening the global supply of NOR Flash, potentially leading to more stable pricing for those products.
The rapid contraction in MLC output, coupled with a lack of new manufacturing investment, has already triggered significant market reactions. Beginning in early 2025, buyers in need of MLC for long-lifecycle products began placing advance purchase orders to secure future supply. This rush to commit to volumes has driven sharp price increases, a trend that is expected to continue. While this benefits remaining suppliers in the short term, it ultimately reinforces MLC’s status as a legacy technology rather than a foundation for future storage architecture.
With MLC receding, TLC and QLC NAND are absorbing virtually all new demand across personal computing, data centers, and client devices. Their superior cost-per-bit economics perfectly align with the industry’s push toward ever-higher drive capacities. Modern SSD controllers are designed to manage the inherent endurance trade-offs of storing more bits per cell through sophisticated algorithms and workload optimization, making these technologies viable for most applications. Looking further ahead, the next potential evolution, Penta-Level Cell (PLC) NAND, remains in a speculative phase. Analysts indicate it may not become a commercially viable product until the industry demands petabyte-scale SSDs at a compelling price point, a milestone still on the distant horizon.
(Source: techradar)
