While storage solutions have been changing rapidly as the digital transformation charges forward, optimism continues to grow about the future advancements of computing storage and memory. In fact, the hard disk drive may soon become a thing of the past, according to Derek Dicker (pictured), corporate vice president and general manager of the Storage Business Unit at Micron Technology, Inc., who recently pointed to several trends that are driving the market forward.

“There is no better time, in my opinion, than to be in the memory and storage industry,” Dicker said.

Dicker spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and David Floyer (@dfloyer), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during Micron Insight 2018 in San Francisco. They discussed key trends in storage and memory, and where the markets are headed. (* Disclosure below.)

AI, 5G drive storage and memory forward

The first big trend that will push the storage and memory industry forward is the emergence of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning, according to Dicker. “In terms of a value driver for the consumption of both memory (DRAM), as well as storage, we see it going phenomenally up in content and every server that’s purchased out in time,” he said.

The evolution in 5G is another huge trend, according to Dicker. Smartphone devices are going to end up having more memory to add features like facial recognition, and storage is increasing — with even a terabyte of data being put into some higher end phones, he added.

“If you look at this combination of what’s happening … in the devices … in the infrastructure, and you couple that with the processing that needs to happen — it’s just an awesome time to be affiliated with memory and storage,” Dicker stated.

For Micron, the company is charging forward with its mission of innovation, and Dicker believes the company will be replacing hard disk drives. Micron was the first to deliver a quad-level cell device to put a terabyte of data on a single die, and earlier this year it began shipping the industry’s first solid state drive with QLC NAND flash technology, according to Dicker.

“For the foreseeable future, we see nothing that encumbers us from going substantially higher and higher in layer count,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Micron Insight 2018. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Micron Insight event. Neither Micron Technology Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE