NuAxiSemiconductor trade intelligence

Micron skipping planned NAND generation

What happened

At a technology and product webinar held on October 21 on its Investor Relations website, Micron announced it is skipping a planned NAND generation, accelerating its 3D NAND technology roadmap to provide additional die capacity, speed and energy efficiency faster. According to Blocks & Files, published Thursday 22 Oct 2026 at 15:48 UTC, Micron is currently shipping G9, its ninth generation with 276 layers; the first product using this tech, the 2650 client SSD, launched in July 2024. President and Chief Technology and Products Officer Scott DeBoer said Micron will go from Gen 9 directly to Gen 11, describing the memory as optimized for the AI products of the future. Compared to G9, G11 has twice the bit density, up to 1.5x higher I/O speed and needs 25 percent less energy to transfer a bit; it is based on wafer-on-wafer bonding technology, will exceed 400 layers, and will ramp in the second half of next year, with more specifics promised next year closer to launch. The publication's bootnote notes that Gen 8 (planned 300+ layers, branded G10 externally) was abandoned in Oct 2026, with Gen 9 (planned 400+ layers) branded G11 externally in Oct 2026. DeBoer also outlined future product directions possibly using G11: a high-IOPS SLC-based, small-block AI-class NAND (in the 25–100 million IOPS area) and a high-bandwidth AI-class NAND with TSV-connected stacked layers placed near the accelerator, with next-generation SSDs holding up to 512 TB. Additionally, per BNP Paribas analyst Karl Ackerman, Micron's HBM4 36GB 12-high entered high-volume manufacturing in March 2026, HBM4E is currently sampling with key customers, with targets of HBM4E HVM in 2027, HBM5 in 2028, HBM5E in 2029 and HBM6 in 2030, plus newly announced vHBM and vEIM lines targeted for volume production in 2028. As to the cause, Micron says the skip is intended to provide additional die capacity, speed and energy efficiency faster, with G11 optimized for future AI products; the publication separately offers its own opinion that the generation skipping is marketing-based and a response to Samsung, SK hynix and Sandisk/Kioxia generation naming, which is media commentary rather than a Micron statement.