Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry's first 256-gigabit , three-dimensional Vertical NAND flash memory based on 48 layers of 3-bit multi-level-cell arrays for use in solid state drives . "With the introduction of our 3rd generation V-NAND flash memory to the global market, we can now provide the best advanced memory solutions, with even higher efficiency based on improved performance, power utilization and manufacturing productivity, thereby accelerating growth of the high-performance and the high-density SSD markets," said Young-Hyun Jun, President of the Memory Business at Samsung Electronics.