SANDISK STARGATE: New Controller for “Large” SSDs 17 Reviews
Image: Sanisk
The CEO of the now independent SSD and NAND Flash manufacturer has promised a new SSD controller. It’s being run under the “Stargate” project name and aims to leverage very large storage capacities with a new architecture in the enterprise segment.
When announcing the latest quarterly figures, CEO David Goeckeler was asked what the roadmap looks like for QLC products. QLC stands for Quad Level Cell and refers to flash memory with 4 bits per cell, which allows for larger storage capacities with the same area as 3-bit TLC. With the new BICS8-QLC-NAND, which offers the highest storage capacity of 2 TB (256 GB) Pro, Sandisk initially offered up to 128 TB. However, 256 TB is already targeted for 2026, thus being announced in February in the form of an ambitious roadmap, which even provided 512 TB by 2027.
Ambitious roadmap: Sandisk wants to double SSD capacity to 256 TB and 512 TB in the coming years, Petabyte SSD is getting closer
Stargate controller expected to hit like a bomb
Information on the custom controller of the “Ultra QLC” platform is new. This is expected to feature a new architecture in the coming quarters and will be called Stargate. Combined with BICS8 QLC, the chip is becoming a “dynamite project,” as the CEO enthused.
We have a new architecture coming out in the next two quarters that we call Stargate, a new ASIC design and clean sheet, and then, with BICS 8 QLC… We just think it’s going to be a dynamite project.
David Goeckeler, CEO of Sandisk
Key technical data is not yet available. With PCIe 5.0, however, this should be avoided. The SSD Enterprise DC SN670 series was announced with 64TB and 128TB, as well as BICS 8 QLC and PCIe 5.0, for the third quarter of 2025. However, it’s also possible that Stargate already signifies a successor with PCIe 6.0.
Lossy Quarters
The third quarter of fiscal 2025 was the first for Sandisk since the separation from Western Digital. With revenue of $1.695 billion, down 10% from the previous quarter, there was a massive loss of $1.881 billion instead of a profit. However, this was due to a one-time impairment of $1.83 billion, a so-called goodwill impairment charge. The current quarter’s payment allows for some inferences about profitability. Sandisk expects sales in the range of $1.75 to $1.85 billion.
The customer continues
While many semiconductor manufacturers are currently making a fortune, particularly in the server space with cloud and AI, this segment is not yet as pronounced at Sandisk. Only $197 million was generated by the Cloud division. The consumer division, with SSDs and memory cards for consumers, generated $571 million, and the strongest segment was still the client division, with $927 million. SANDISK: Divisional Sales
SANDISK: Divisional Sales (Image: Sandisk)
Topics: Cloud Computing Cloud Memory Enterprise Flash-Speicher Artificial Intelligence NVME SANDISK SERVER SSD Source Source: Blocks and Files
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