What if one drive might change racks of storage, reduce energy use, and deal with AI workloads? Can this be the way forward for information?

Kioxia Company has launched the trade’s first 245.76 terabyte (TB) NVMe solid-state drive (SSD), increasing its LC9 Sequence lineup. The brand new drive is available in 2.5-inch and EDSFF E3.L type elements and is designed for high-capacity, high-performance workloads corresponding to generative AI. Sampling has already begun, with broader availability to observe.
The LC9 Sequence is constructed for environments that deal with large datasets, together with coaching massive language fashions, producing embeddings, and supporting retrieval augmented technology (RAG). These purposes require distinctive storage scale, velocity, and effectivity. By reaching 245.76 TB per drive, the LC9 Sequence permits information facilities to consolidate storage, scale back energy consumption, and unlock drive slots in contrast with conventional HDD deployments.
Along with the 245.76 TB mannequin, the lineup features a 122.88 TB model in each 2.5-inch and E3.S type elements. All fashions help PCIe 5.0, NVMe 2.0, and NVMe-MI 1.2c requirements, together with OCP Datacenter NVMe SSD specification v2.5.
The LC9 Sequence is predicated on a 32-die stack of two terabit (Tb) BiCS FLASH QLC 3D flash reminiscence, mixed with CMOS straight Bonded to Array (CBA) know-how. This structure achieves 8 TB per 154 BGA package deal—an trade milestone—made doable by Kioxia’s precision wafer processing, materials design, and wire bonding experience.
Key options embrace:
- As much as 245.76 TB capability (2.5-inch and E3.L)
- As much as 122.88 TB (E3.S)
- PCIe 5.0 interface (128 GT/s, Gen5 single x4, twin x2)
- Versatile Knowledge Placement (FDP) to scale back write amplification
- Safety choices: SIE, SED, FIPS SED
- CNSA 2.0 safety with LMS algorithm, supporting post-quantum cryptography
The drives are optimized for information lakes and different large-scale storage methods the place HDDs typically develop into bottlenecks. By changing a number of laborious drives with a single LC9 SSD, operators can obtain larger throughput, decrease energy draw, and improved cooling effectivity—serving to to decrease general whole price of possession.