First enterprise NVMe SSD with 8th-gen BiCS FLASH TLC-based Flash memory technology

KIOXIA Europe GmbH has developed, prototyped and demonstrated its new KIOXIA CM9 Series PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs. These next-generation drives are the first enterprise SSDs built with its eighth generation BiCS FLASH TLC–based 3D flash memory, which includes CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) technology – an architectural innovation that delivers significant advances in power efficiency, performance and density, and sustainability while doubling available capacity per flash device.

As the demands of modern computing grow, applications such as AI, ML, and high-performance computing need a sophisticated solid state storage infrastructure – requiring not only enterprise-class performance but also higher power efficiency to ensure scalability and manageable operational costs. Meeting these needs is central to the design of the series, which is purpose-built to support next-generation data centre workloads.

At the core of the series is the company's eighth generation BiCS FLASH, the company's most advanced 3D flash memory to date. This technology employs a CBA-based architecture that greatly increases the NAND interface speed, improves density and power efficiency and lowers latency – directly benefitting SSD performance.

The series SSDs deliver performance improvements of up to approximately 65% in random write, 55% in random read, and 95% in sequential write compared to the previous generation, the KIOXIA CM7 Series. Also, performance-per-watt gains include approximately 55% better sequential read and 75% better sequential write efficiency.

Axel Stoermann, vice president and CTO for Embedded Memory and SSD, KIOXIA Europe GmbH, emphasises: "Alongside processing power and energy efficiency, memory is fundamental to enable AI, machine learning, and high-performance computing applications. The CM9 Series powered by our BiCS FLASH generation 8, is designed to address these storage demands, providing top-tier bit density, rapid data transfer, and outstanding power efficiency, all of which contribute to the superior performance of our SSDs."

KIOXIA CM9 Series SSD highlights include (preliminary and subject to change):

• PCI 5.0, NVMe 2.0, NVMe-MI 1.2c, and OCP Datacenter NVMe SSD 2.5 specification-compliant
• Dual-port support in 2.5-inch and E3.S form factors
• Read-intensive (1 DWPD) and mixed-use (3 DWPD) endurances
• Sequential performance (128KiB/QD32) – 14.8GB/s read and 11GB/s write
• Random performance (4KiB) – 3,400 KIOPS (QD512) and 800 KIOPS (QD32)
• 2.5-inch capacities up to 61.44TB and E3.S capacities up to 30.72TB