Memory chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. has said it will prepare for its first production volumes of 3D NAND flash memory in the third quarter of 2015. It joins the ranks of Samsung, Toshiba and Micron.

The part will be a 36-layer 128Gbit NAND multilayer-cell (MLC) device. In addition the company said it would complete the design of a 48-layer triple-layer cell (TLC) in 2015 to be able to meet demand from the solid-state drive market in 2016. SK Hynix had announced a 24-layer NAND device as a prototype.

The announcement was made as part of SK Hynix's reporting on its financial results for the second quarter of 2015. The company made a net income of 1.1 trillion won on revenue of 4.6 trillion won which was year-on-year by 18 percent.

Toshiba started sampling a 48-layer 128Gbit NAND flash memory back in March 2015 while at the same time Micron Technology Inc. announced sampling of a 256Gbit MLC version of 3D NAND with select partners today, Both that an a 384Gbit version are expected to be in full production at Micron in 4Q15.

Samsung was the early leader in mass production 3D NAND with an announcement in November 2014 of a 128Gbit NAND flash memory that offers 3-bit multi-level cells and has 32 layers of memory in the vertical direction. As such a step up in stacking and memory capacity could be expected from Samsung soon.