SK Hynix Ramps Up Enterprise SSDs with Its 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND Flash

[Chino]

SK Hynix Inc. today announced that the Company recently completed developing an enterprise SATA Solid State Drive (or 'eSSD'). With its 72-Layer 512Gb (Gigabits) 3D NAND Flash chips, the Company is paving the way for its full-fledged entrance to the high value-added eSSD market. SK Hynix combined the 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND Flash with its in-house firmware and controller to provide the maximum density of 4TB (Terabytes). SK Hynix makes the most of its 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND chips to double the biggest density of the SSD of the same size with 256Gb NAND chips.

A single 4TB SSD could contain 200 UHD (Ultra-HD) movies, each of which is generally as large as approximately 20GB (Gigabytes). The new eSSD supports sequential read and write speed of up to 560MB/s (Megabytes per second) and 515MB/s, respectively, and it can perform 98,000 random read IOPS (Input/Output operations per second) and 32,000 random write IOPS. SK Hynix also improved the read latency, which is of the utmost importance in eSSD performance. The Company is sampling the product to server and data center clients in the United States.


The Company also finished developing enterprise PCIe (PCI Express) SSD and is shipping samples to server and data center clients. The PCIe SSD will also use the 72-Layer 3D NAND and have a capacity of more than 1TB. The 1TB PCIe SSD operates at 2,700MB/s and 1,100MB/s of sequential read/write speed and runs random read/write performance of 230,000 IOPS and 35,000 IOPS.

"SK Hynix started mass-producing Client SSD with its 3D NAND chips and in-house firmware and controller last year. Now we have expanded our SSD business portfolio with the development of eSSD," said Jin Kang, the Head of NAND Planning and Enabling. "The Company plans to actively meet growing eSSD market demands to contribute to enhancing its profitability in NAND Flash business" he added.

According to IHS Markit, the SSD market revenue is expected to total USD 25.1 billion in 2017 and post a continuous annual growth of 5.6% to total USD 31.2 billion in 2021. Revenue of the enterprise SSD will lead the market growth by rising from USD 13.4 billion to USD 17.6 billion at a CAGR of 7% during the same period.

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[TheLostSwede]

The headline says GB, the news release says Gb. Maybe correct the headline?

 

[lexluthermiester]

The headline says GB, the news release says Gb. Maybe correct the headline?

Based on the pictures, 512GB seems correct. The 2.5" sata board has 4 storage chips on that side which likely indicates that it's a 2TB drive, but we can't see the other side. The M2 drive had two visible which might be a 1TB drive. This presumes the picture is a representative sample and not a stock photo..

 

[Prima.Vera]

The end is near for the LAST dinosaurs of the IT, the HDDs. With 4TB SSD becoming cheap mainstream, it will be game over for that ancient tech.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The end is near for the LAST dinosaurs of the IT, the HDDs. With 4TB SSD becoming cheap mainstream, it will be game over for that ancient tech.

Not there yet. Give it 5 years or so. Right now $1000 for 4TB is still out of reach of "mainstream" consumers to say nothing of replacing 6 & 8 TB drives cost effectively.

 

[dj-electric]

The end is near for the LAST dinosaurs of the IT, the HDDs. With 4TB SSD becoming cheap mainstream, it will be game over for that ancient tech.

This isn't happening.

 

[lexluthermiester]

This isn't happening.

It kinda is. 1TB & 2TB SSD's, while still pricey, are in reach of the common user, with 1TB SSD's in mainstream distribution channels. 2TB will shortly follow and 4TB aren't too far off. 4TB SSD's will likely be sub-$500 in the next 18 months. However, HDD's are still far more cost effective at the price per GB equation. And as the performance continues to advance as well, it is doubtful that HDD's will disappear anytime in the next decade. The one caveat to that is a breakthrough in storage technology that takes the world by storm. Unlikely but such has happened before. There is a growing number of users who use a hybrid storage deployment, IE use of an SSD for the boot/OS drive and a HDD for mass storage. I use such a methodology. Dual SSD's in a RAID0 and then 3 HDD's partitioned on their own.

 

[Prince Valiant]

The end is near for the LAST dinosaurs of the IT, the HDDs. With 4TB SSD becoming cheap mainstream, it will be game over for that ancient tech.

I don't see it happening for slow storage unless they price close to HDD prices.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Not there yet. Give it 5 years or so. Right now $1000 for 4TB is still out of reach of "mainstream" consumers to say nothing of replacing 6 & 8 TB drives cost effectively.

I was thinking more like 10-15 years or so...

 

[lexluthermiester]

I was thinking more like 10-15 years or so...

That's would be stretching it. Maybe 6 or 7 at the longest..

 

[Prima.Vera]

Yep. It really depends on how the NAND prices will fluctuate over the next years....

 

[lexluthermiester]

Yep. It really depends on how the NAND prices will fluctuate over the next years....

That is a good point. The trend is that it's going to get less expensive, and likely dramatically so with all the latest advances being brought to market.