As the era of AI accelerates, the demand for high-performance enterprise SSDs (eSSD) is rapidly increasing, and QLC2 technology, which enables high capacity, has become the industry standard. In line with this trend, SK hynix has developed a 61TB product using this technology and introduced it to the market.

2QLC: NAND flash is divided into SLC (Single Level Cell), MLC (Multi Level Cell), TLC (Triple Level Cell), QLC (Quadruple Level Cell), and PLC (Penta Level Cell) depending on how much information is stored in one cell. As the amount of information stored increases, more data can be stored in the same area.

SK hynix has been leading the SSD market for AI data centers with Solidigm, a subsidiary which commercialized QLC-based eSSD for the first time in the world. With the development of PS1012, the company expects to build a balanced SSD portfolio, thereby maximizing synergy between the two companies.

With the latest 5th generation (Gen5) PCIe3, PS1012 doubles its bandwidth compared to 4th generation based products. As a result, the data transfer speed reaches 32GT/s (Giga-transfers per second)4, with the sequential read performance of 13GB/s (Gigabyte per second), which is twice that of previous generation products.

3Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe): A high-speed input/output interface with a serial structure used on the main board of a digital device.
4Giga-transfers per second (GT/s): Number of operations or information transferred per second

In addition, the company developed this product to support the OCP 2.0 version, enhancing its compatibility with various data center server devices of global AI customers.

5Open Compute Project (OCP): An international consultative body that involves major data center companies around the world to discuss hardware, software and eSSD standards for building ultra-high-efficiency data centers.

SK hynix plans to supply the sample of the new product to global server manufacturers within this year for product evaluation, and based on this, it plans to expand its product line to 122TB in the third quarter of next year. The company also aims to lead the SSD market for ultra-high capacity data centers by developing 244TB products based on the world’s highest 321-high 4D NAND developed in November, to overcome the capacity limitations of eSSD.

“SK hynix and Solidigm are strengthening our QLC-based high-capacity SSD lineup to solidify our technological leadership in NAND solutions for AI,” said Ahn Hyun, President and Chief Development Officer of SK hynix. “In the future, we will lay the foundation for growth to become a Full Stack AI memory provider by meeting the diverse needs of AI data center customers based on our high competitiveness in the eSSD field.”