KIOXIA Shatters Storage Records with World's First 245TB SSD

In a landmark advancement for enterprise storage, KIOXIA has unveiled the LC9 Series SSD, setting a new industry benchmark with a staggering 245.76TB capacity—the highest ever in a commercially available solid-state drive. Designed to tackle the explosive data demands of generative AI, vector databases, and hyperscale data lakes, this drive leverages cutting-edge NAND technology and innovative packaging to deliver petabyte-scale storage in a single device. With sequential read speeds up to 12GB/s and 1.3 million random read IOPS, the LC9 Series doesn’t just offer massive capacity; it provides the performance backbone for next-generation computational workloads.

Engineering the Density Leap
At the core of the LC9’s achievement is KIOXIA’s eighth-generation BiCS FLASH QLC NAND, configured in a 32-die stack of 2Tb dies. This is paired with CMOS Bonded to Array (CBA) technology, which integrates peripheral circuitry directly onto the NAND wafer. By eliminating traditional wire bonds, CBA shortens signal paths and reduces latency, enabling an 8TB package in an ultra-dense 11.5mm x 13.5mm BGA footprint. Multiple such packages are orchestrated via a proprietary controller to reach the full 245.76TB capacity, supported by features like Flexible Data Placement (FDP) to minimize write amplification and extend endurance (rated at 0.3 DWPD).

Form Factors and Ecosystem Implications
The LC9 Series is available in 2.5-inch, E3.S, and E3.L form factors, with the latter enabling the full 245.76TB capacity. E3.L’s larger physical size accommodates advanced thermal designs and NAND stacking, making it ideal for QLC-based high-density drives. However, this diversity highlights a growing challenge: the fragmentation of SSD form factors like E3.L and the emerging E2 standard complicates server backplane design and inventory management for hyperscalers. As KIOXIA pushes boundaries, the industry must balance innovation with standardization to avoid operational headaches.

Performance, Security, and the Warm Data Revolution
Beyond raw capacity, the LC9 Series delivers enterprise-grade reliability with dual-port NVMe connectivity for high availability, power loss protection, and end-to-end data integrity. Security is robust, featuring AES-256 encryption, Sanitize Instant Erase (SIE), and FIPS 140-3-compliant Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs), aligning with CNSA 2.0 standards. Crucially, this drive accelerates a tectonic shift in data strategy: by replacing racks of hard drives with a handful of SSDs, enterprises can consolidate warm data—frequently accessed but not performance-critical—into flash-based solutions. This slashes power consumption, cooling needs, and physical footprint while boosting accessibility for AI pipelines. For context, a single 2U server with E3.L support could now house over 9.8PB of storage.

The Road to Petabyte-Scale Reality
KIOXIA is currently sampling the LC9 Series to select customers, with a showcase planned at the Future of Memory and Storage 2025 event in August. This isn’t just a technical curiosity; it’s a response to real-world deployments where AI and big data are straining legacy storage. As capacities double—from Solidigm’s 122TB drive to KIOXIA’s 245TB behemoth—the era of all-flash data centers grows nearer, promising unprecedented efficiency for the algorithms reshaping our digital landscape.

Source: StorageReview