According to Taiwan tech publication DigiTimes, most AI firms are unwilling to wait two years for HDD supplies to stabilize and are shifting to SSDs instead. To contain costs, they are choosing QLC NAND-based drives over the faster, more durable, and more expensive TLC variants.
TLC is the technology, not the manufacturer. TLC means three bits per cell, versus QLC which has 4 bits per cell. Every extra bit the cell has to store exponentially reduces its write cycle.