Intel Prepping 320 GB SSD for 4Q Launch

Details are scant, but Intel has leaked the news that eight new solid-state drives are on the way come summertime.

It’s not as big a story, capacity-wise, as Toshiba’s announcement that the company is working on a 512 GB solid-state drive.  Nevertheless, Intel has leaked the tidbit that it intends to release eight new solid-state drives in the fourth quarter (July to September).  Capacities for these drives will cap out at 320 GB of total storage as a result of Intel using to 32-nanometer manufacturing technology.

There’s no word yet on the actual release date or pricing of the drives.  Nor has Intel offered any comment about the product launch, which the company has allegedly been chatting up with PC manufacturers.  Just don’t expect the drives to run cheap.  The company’s 160 GB drives sell in the $900 to $1,000 price range.  Even assuming that the prices of all of Intel’s SSD offerings would shuffle around as a result of eight new product launches, expected costs for high-capacity SSDs remain high across the board. 

At the very least, eight new drive models should be able to bump down the costs of Intel’s current core lineup of solid-state drives.  With demand expected to ramp up for business-class solid-state laptops later this year, this could put Intel in a favorable position to compete against the less expensive solid-state drives on the low end of the capacity scale.