Kioxia and Sandisk have unveiled their new 9th generation 2Tb QLC 3D flash memory designed to power storage heavy artificial intelligence workloads. The technology uses a specialized bonded architecture to increase write and read speeds without raising manufacturing costs. But the companies have not announced when mass shipments to enterprise clients will begin.
The hardware relies on CMOS directly Bonded to Array architecture to manufacture the memory components. Under this system, engineers produce the CMOS wafer and the memory array separately before bonding them together. This separation lets the manufacturers optimize each layer independently. It results in a highly flexible production cycle that keeps overall investment costs low.
Performance jumps are substantial compared to the older 8th generation memory. The 9th generation hardware uses a 6 plane architecture to deliver wider write and read paths. Interface speeds now reach 4.8Gb/s, which marks a 33% improvement over previous generations. The design also boasts better power efficiency during heavy transfer tasks.
Executives from both firms highlighted how these upgrades match the current shift toward autonomous systems. Kioxia Chief Technology Officer Hideshi Miyajima pointed out that artificial intelligence is moving quickly into physical and agent based applications.
This approach enables us to deliver high performance while keeping investment costs relatively low.
Sandisk Chief Technology Officer Alper Ilkbahar explained that their joint development platform allows them to bring these capabilities to market much faster than previous technology cycles allowed. He believes the flexibility of the bonded platform is essential for meeting modern data center demands.
Our 9th generation QLC technology demonstrates the unique flexibility of CBA, to accelerate innovation by independently advancing CMOS and memory technologies.
This latest release represents a major milestone in the shared product roadmap of the 2 companies. While exact pricing is still under wraps, the technology is expected to form the backbone of upcoming enterprise solid state drives designed for data intensive cloud applications.
