Kioxia LC9 SSD: With its own 2 Tbit chips, 122 TB is easily achieved 16 comments
Image: Western Digital
With the LC9 series, Kioxia has announced a new SSD that smashes the current maximum in terms of storage capacity. Thanks to the 2 Tbit memory chips (BICS8 QLC), the usable storage volume is a whopping 122.88 TB.
The QLC memory chips (cover photo) come from our own company and offer the highest storage capacity to date with 2 Tbit (256 GB) of 3D-NAND flash. In the press release, Kioxia talks about the LC9, the first SSD with this memory. In terms of product announcements, this isn’t true, as partners Phison and Silicon Motion have presented SSD designs with 122 TB thanks to 2 TB chips. It remains to be seen which SSD will ultimately reach the market. As a separate memory supplier, Kioxia could be ahead of the curve.
So far, only a few details about the Kioxia LC9
In the LC9, Kioxia relies on the classic form factor with a width of 2.5 inches and probably 15 mm in height; a detailed data sheet is not yet available. The SSD has a dual-port interface with PCIe 5.0. However, Kioxia has not yet provided any information. The following features are highlighted as “highlights” of the series:
2.5-inch SSD form factor with 2.5-inch port with dual connections, 122.88 TB Capacity, 0.3 DWPD LifeSpan (for five years). NVME-2.0-, NVME-MI and PCIE-5.0-specific (up to 128 gigatransfers per second Gen5 Single X4, capable of dual-x performance). Terabit QLC Block of the eighth generation of BICS-3D Flash storage technology, including CBA (CMOS-Band-Aided) technology that contributes to the production of high-capacity, high-performance and energy-efficient products. Kioxie
Kioxia LC9 (image: kioxia)
As a potential use case, the kioxia is designed for AI applications with high memory requirements, such as for LLMS (LLM) models, for training and securing deep data sets, for Vectord databases, and for fast access to information for inference and fine-tuning. It was “developed for generative AI applications.”
Kioxia has not yet provided information on the availability of the 122.88 TB LC9. It is planned to be showcased at various conferences.
128/122 TB also available from other manufacturers
User storage ranging from 122.88 TB to 128 TB is also available from other vendors. Controller manufacturer Silicon Motion recently unveiled its reference design kit with PCIe 5.0 and up to 128 TB QLC as part of the Monttan SSD Server platform, which is expected to be sampled soon with partners.
Last year, Phison already announced its Pascari D205V reference platform with 122.88 TB of usable storage space and PCIe 5.0, which is expected to be sampled by summer 2025.
On the other hand, the D5-P5336 solid-state drive with 122 TB uses 192-layer QLC NAND from Intel’s legacy. However, this enterprise SSD still relies on PCIe 4.0.
Meanwhile, Samsung is planning its BM1743 with 128 TB (122.88 TB) and PCIe 4.0, while Kioxia’s partner Western Digital (now Sankisk again) wants to offer 122/128 TB with the SN655+ series.
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