First in Industry to Mass-Produce 6th Generation V-NAND Based International Standard SSD
Discussions Underway to Supply Data Center Companies Including Facebook
Enhancing Power Efficiency to Reduce Costs and Contribute to Carbon Reduction
[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Samsung Electronics is mass-producing a new high-performance solid-state drive (SSD) that enhances power efficiency and strengthens security. By improving power efficiency by 50% compared to existing models, it is expected to reduce operating costs for data center companies that require large-scale power and contribute to environmental efforts such as carbon reduction.
On the 24th, Samsung Electronics announced that it will begin mass production of the data center-dedicated high-performance SSD 'PM9A3 E1.S' in the first half of this year. The new SSD is the industry's first data-dedicated SSD based on 6th generation V-NAND that meets the standards of the international standard organization OCP.
SSD is a next-generation large-capacity storage device that stores data using memory semiconductors (NAND flash). While hard disk drives (HDDs) were widely used as the main storage device in the past, recently, digital SSDs that increase data storage and write/read speeds are replacing them.
In particular, this new product, which improves power efficiency by more than 50%, is expected to reduce power consumption in data centers operating 24 hours a day, leading to cost savings. Samsung Electronics is already discussing supply plans with leading global data center operators such as Facebook. If all HDDs shipped worldwide for servers last year were replaced with the new SSD, the amount of power saved in one year would reach a staggering 1,484 GWh. This is equivalent to the residential electricity consumption in Seoul for one summer month (1,412 GWh).
The data processing speed of this SSD has also significantly improved compared to previous models. The sequential write speed is twice as fast as the previous generation, and the random read and write speeds have improved by 40% and 150%, respectively. Additionally, security has been enhanced by applying an 'anti-rollback' feature that prevents downloading vulnerable lower versions of firmware and a 'secure boot' feature that blocks unauthorized access.
Samsung Electronics plans to continue collaborating with global data center companies and lead standardization in this field, starting with the mass production of the 'PM9A3 E1.S'. According to market research firm Omdia, Samsung Electronics held over 40% market share in the enterprise SSD market used in data centers and servers as of the third quarter of last year, ranking first in the industry. This market is expected to grow rapidly, reaching $19.7 billion (21.8 trillion KRW) this year and $21.4 billion (23.75 trillion KRW) in 2024.
Park Cheol-min, Executive Director of Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics Memory Business Division, said, "The new SSD is based on 6th generation V-NAND and achieves industry-leading power efficiency." He added, "We will work with various customers participating in international standard organizations to establish standards for data center SSDs."
Ross Stanford, Head of OCP SSD at Facebook, evaluated, "NVMe cloud SSDs that comply with international standards provide important clues to solving recent technical challenges in data centers." He added, "Samsung Electronics' new product meets the specifications suitable for data center environments that require large-scale expansion."
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