Seoul, South Korea – SK hynix, a leading semiconductor company, announced today the completion of development of its high-capacity Solid State Drive (SSD) product, the 'PS1012 U.2', specifically designed for AI data centers.

As the demand for AI data centers surges due to the AI boom, there is a growing need for high-performance enterprise SSDs (eSSDs) among enterprise customers. To meet this demand, SK hynix has introduced a 61TB product that utilizes Quad Level Cell (QLC) technology, which is quickly becoming the industry standard for high-capacity storage solutions.

QLC technology allows for storing four bits of data in a single cell, enabling a significant increase in storage density within the same physical space. The PS1012, equipped with the latest PCIe 5th generation interface, offers a substantial 2x increase in bandwidth compared to its 4th generation predecessors. This translates to a data transfer speed of 32GT/s and a sequential read performance of 13GB/s, which is twice as fast as previous generations.

Furthermore, the PS1012 is designed to comply with the Open Compute Project (OCP) 2.0 specification, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of server devices used in global AI data centers.

SK hynix plans to distribute sample units of the new product to global server manufacturers later this year for evaluation. Based on the feedback, the company aims to expand its product line to 122TB by the third quarter of next year. Additionally, SK hynix is actively developing a 244TB product based on its world's highest-density 321-layer 4D NAND technology, which was developed last month.

SK hynix has been at the forefront of the AI data center SSD market through its subsidiary, Solidigm, which was the first to commercialize QLC-based eSSDs. The development of the PS1012 further strengthens the company's balanced SSD portfolio and maximizes synergies between the two companies.

"By strengthening our high-capacity QLC-based SSD lineup, we are solidifying our technology leadership in the AI NAND solutions market," said Ahn Hyun, Chief Development Officer at SK hynix. "Based on our strong competitiveness in the eSSD sector, we will meet the diverse needs of AI data center customers and establish a solid foundation for growth as a full-stack AI memory provider."