After SanDisk revealed plans for the development of a cutting-edge petabyte solid-state drive (SSD) at its recent Investor Day event, we were curious to learn more about the upcoming product’s specifications and see if the hype is truly worth it.
As a reminder, SanDisk announced the 1PB SSD through the next-generation UltraQLC as its next step after the 128TB SSDs, which the company expects to roll out during this year, the 256TB product it plans for next year, and the 512TB SSDs, which will come out in 2027.
SanDisk’s petabyte SSD technical specifications
Indeed, the evolution of the 1PB SSD (that’s 1024TB!) will involve combining the BiCS8 QLC 3D NAND technology, firmware, as well as the highly advanced custom-designed 64-channel controller with the ultimate goal of minimizing delays and enhancing reliability.
Notably, the controller achieves this by incorporating domain-specific hardware accelerators, which offload critical storage functions from firmware. This way, it reduces latency, enables more bandwidth, and improves reliability for hyperscale storage needs.
Moreover, the controller scales power dynamically based on workload needs, ensuring peak energy efficiency, and features a sophisticated bus multiplexer. The latter manages increased data load from high-density 3D QLC NAND memory stacks, facilitating total channel utilization without affecting performance.
As it happens, the initial UltraQLC drives will leverage BiCS8 2-terabit (Tb) NAND chips to reach 128TB capacities, with future models envisioning support for 256TB, 512TB, and finally 1PB as the incoming higher-density NAND becomes available to address performance downsides.
Commenting on the planned developments, Khurram Ismail, the Chief of Engineering and Product Management at SanDisk, explained:
”UltraQLC [is] custom built based on our decades of experience and our current learnings to really be deployed in the modern data infrastructure while not compromising on density, performance, and power efficiency. (…) It is really built around those three things: […] BICS 8 NAND technology [and future NAND too], customized controllers, and advanced system design.”
Solving the memory wall issue
SanDisk’s efforts are part of the aim to address the so-called ‘memory wall problem’ that has arisen with the acceleration of AI growth. Specifically, it refers to AI training requiring abundant memory capacity and the fact that typical DRAM scaling may no longer meet these demands.
This is where its 3D DRAM steps in, with SanDisk’s memory technology chief Alper Ilkbahar, pointing out that:
“This work has been going on for quite some time, but the technological challenges have been pretty daunting and there is no clear line of sight to getting to 3D DRAM right now in the industry.”
To help resolve this issue, there are three potential solutions, the first being the brute-force investment approach, which involves pouring more money into DRAM scaling. The second is 3D DRAM which attempts to scale DRAM vertically, much like 3D NAND, and the last (and preferred) is developing new scalable memory technologies (like High Bandwidth Flash – HBF), which SanDisk has been working on.
Race to petabyte SSD
Having said that, the company didn’t provide a definite timeline for the launch of its 1PB SSD. However, it’s safe to assume it will not happen before 2028 or later, based on its plans for lower-capacity products and the 512TB SSD’s planned release in 2027.
Meanwhile, SanDisk’s competitor Samsung is also working on a petabyte SSD on its own, although there has been no concrete information since the first reports came out in 2023. According to these reports, Samsung plans to use the 3D QLC NAND technology, as well.
All things considered, whichever manufacturer gets there first, users will have options to choose from depending on their storage requirements, and either sounds convincing. A word of caution though – having so much important data stored in a single place with no back-up is not a good idea and is something to consider.
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