Today, SanDisk showcased a milestone-setting high-capacity 256TB[i] NVMe™ enterprise SSD, achieving breakthrough improvements in storage capacity, performance, and energy efficiency. This achievement is made possible by SanDisk’s newly launched enterprise-grade UltraQLC™ technology platform. By integrating BiCS8 QLC CBA NAND flash technology, custom controllers, and advanced system tuning, the platform delivers exceptional storage capacity, marking another significant advancement in NAND architecture.
As workloads and business demands evolve in the AI era, flash storage requires higher customizability to match increasingly complex workloads. Built on the UltraQLC™ platform, the new SANDISK® 256TB¹ NVMe™ SSD is specifically designed for AI-driven, storage-intensive workloads, efficiently supporting scenarios such as data preparation and transformation, as well as high-speed AI data lakes. While delivering superior performance and energy efficiency, the product significantly optimizes the total cost of ownership (TCO) for large-capacity applications in hyperscale cloud environments.
Khurram Ismail, Chief Product Officer at SanDisk, stated: “As the AI era enters a new phase, flash storage is becoming a key driver for intelligent, high-performance workloads. Our UltraQLC™ platform embodies years of technical accumulation and R&D investment by our team, aiming to build a flexible yet powerful architecture that achieves extraordinary capacity and superior performance while maintaining high efficiency. This will help us further expand our product portfolio to meet large-scale AI needs, enabling our customers to accelerate data processing and transform massive data into tangible innovations.”
The SANDISK® UltraQLC™ 256TB¹ NVMe™ SSD sets a new benchmark for hyperscale flash storage, engineered to power high-speed, intelligent data lakes for large-scale AI applications. With lower latency, higher bandwidth, and enhanced reliability, it meets the performance demands of today’s rigorous AI workloads. Its core innovations include:
·Direct Write QLC: Eliminates reliance on SLC caching by leveraging power-fail protection safety mechanisms during initial writes.
·BiCS8 2Tb QLC Dies: Doubles storage density while maintaining compact die size.
·UltraQLC™ Energy Efficiency Optimization: Achieves an estimated performance boost of up to ~10% at equivalent power levels through Dynamic Frequency Scaling.
·Scalable Multi-Core Controller: Ensures high throughput and exceptional durability in ultra-high-capacity environments.
·Data Retention (DR) Profiles: Reduces DR reclaim operations by an estimated ~33%[iii], lowering power consumption while enhancing drive reliability, recoverability, and continuous data access capabilities.
The SANDISK® SN670 128TB¹ NVMe SSD and SANDISK® UltraQLC™ 256TB¹ NVMe™ SSD will launch in U.2 form factor in the first half of 2026, with other form factors to follow later in the same year.
SanDisk will deliver a keynote presentation at FMS 2025 on Wednesday, August 6, at 11:40 AM Pacific Time, focusing on its UltraQLC™ platform solutions. The milestone 256TB¹ NVMe™ SSD and other innovative flash storage solutions will be on display at Booth 607 during the event.
(Reprinted from https://www.eepw.com.cn)