1-petabyte SSDs are becoming a reality.

According to TomsHardware , at last week's Investor Day event in the US, Sandisk introduced the UltraQLC platform, a technology that plays a crucial role in the development of SSDs with capacities up to 1 petabyte (PB). UltraQLC is not a standalone memory type but rather a combination of BICS 8 QLC 3D NAND, a controller with 64 NAND channels, and optimization software.

The controller plays a crucial role in this platform, integrating specialized hardware accelerators to reduce latency, increase bandwidth, and improve reliability. Additionally, it can adjust power consumption according to processing demands, optimizing energy efficiency.

UltraQLC combines BICS 8 QLC 3D NAND, a 64-channel controller, and optimization software to increase SSD capacity up to 1 petabyte without sacrificing performance.

According to Sandisk, the initial UltraQLC SSDs will use 2-terabit (Tb) NAND memory chips, allowing for drives with capacities of 128 terabytes (TB). In the future, with the introduction of larger capacity NAND chips, the company aims to develop 256 TB, 512 TB, and eventually 1 PB SSDs. However, increasing capacity means the risk of performance degradation, which Sandisk needs to address to ensure system stability.

Besides UltraQLC, Sandisk also mentioned another important technology: 3D DRAM. As memory demands increase due to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM), the company recognizes that traditional DRAM expansion methods are becoming inadequate. However, despite extensive research, Sandisk acknowledges that there is still no clear roadmap for 3D DRAM due to the significant technological challenges.

Instead of focusing on 3D DRAM, Sandisk is exploring alternatives such as high-performance color (HBF) memory, which increases memory scalability without relying on traditional methods. Meanwhile, other approaches such as heavily investing in DRAM manufacturing or developing 3D DRAM are still being considered but are not feasible at the moment.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ssd-1-petabyte-sap-thanh-hien-thuc-18525021810392021.htm