Samsung V-NAND (2013)
Samsung introduced V-NAND, the first commercial 3D NAND flash memory, stacking cells vertically instead of shrinking them on a flat plane. The industry had hit scaling limits with planar NAND, and Samsung bet on vertical stacking to keep density growing.
Samsung became the NAND flash leader and held that position for years as rivals scrambled to catch up with 3D stacking.
3D NAND became the industry standard, and Samsung's stacking expertise became a core competitive advantage.
Samsung is making the same bet with zHBM: vertical stacking to solve a scaling and performance problem. The company explicitly cites its V-NAND and through-silicon via experience as the foundation for zHBM's wafer bonding.
