KIOXIA SSDs History

What’s KIOXIA SSDs?

SSD stands for Solid State Drive which uses flash memory as the storage medium.
KIOXIA invented the world’s first NAND flash memory in 1987. NAND flash memory is a storage device that enables large amounts of data to be stored. It is now an essential part of data centers and familiar electronic devices such as smartphones.

SSDs have advantages of high speed, low power consumption, and shock resistance compared to Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) which use magnetic disks. However, they were initially more expensive than HDDs and that puts SSDs at a disadvantage. As the cost per bit was lowered by flash memory-intensive technology, we have entered a market where we can leverage characteristics of SSDs such as faster PC boot-ups and low power consumption, and brought the benefits to the users.

SSDs are mainly composed of a controller, DRAM, and flash memory. The controller is the heart of the SSD, to control the reading and writing of data from and to the flash memory, while the DRAM is where data is temporarily stored. SSD products without DRAMs are also available by HMB (Host Memory Buffer) technology.

We are developing a flash memory based storage technology. Our key objective and mission is to create new markets and applications and to support various aspects of society that are only made possible with flash memory.

SSD Form Factor

Form factor is that the physical specifications and/or standards for the shape and dimensions of the housing and components of SSD, and the arrangement of connecting terminals. Different types of form factors are used in SSDs for various applications.

The 2.5-inch type form factor was the mainstream when client SSDs were first developed for its identical dimensions as HDDs. Today, thinner and smaller M.2 type SSDs have come into play as PCs have become thinner and lighter. While smaller in size, SSD capacity has increasing over the years.

Now, the Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) has becomes prominent as the next generation hyperscale, the enterprise / data centers form factor.
EDSFF is a specification developed by SNIA SFF Technology Affiliate, the standard standardizing body. Many manufacturers, including KIOXIA, are developing SSDs compliant with this standard.

Explore EDSFF

KIOXIA SSD Product Line-up

KIOXIA delivers optimized SSD products and solutions for client PCs, enterprise servers and storage, and cloud data centers.

Along with the 2019 company name change, the colors of the product series have been renewed, with light blue for Enterprise SSDs, orange for Data Center SSDs, and light green for Client SSDs.

Comparison of Product Category

The listed products are representative examples.

KIOXIA - SSD Products introduction movie -

KIOXIA showcases its BiCS FLASH™ 3D flash memory and family of SSDs that meet a wide range of customer needs, from personal computers to hyperscale and enterprise applications.

KIOXIA continues to enable new applications and markets that are made possible with flash memory, meeting new challenges head on!

Product Chronology

History of Client SSDs Supporting Mobile World

Around 2000s. At the time, SSD had not been named “SSD” yet but was called “silicon disk” or “flash drive.” They were used in some industrial equipment, but only in a small proportion because drives with NAND flash memory were very expensive compared to HDDs.

2001. The PATA SSD with SLC NAND was commercialized. 2007. The SATA SSD with MLC NAND was released.

2015. The world’s smallest* NVM Express™ compatible SSD, which is KIOXIA’s first product to support TCG Pyrite was commercialized. KIOXIA BG1 Series PCIe® 3.0, Max 256 GB. KIOXIA XG3 Series PCIe® 3.1, Max 1,024 GB. 2017. Single package NVMe™ client SSD utilizing 3rd generation “BiCS FLASH™” was commercialized. KIOXIA BG3 Series PCIe® 3.1, Max 512 GB. The maximum capacity to 2,048 GB NVMe™ client SSD was commercialized. KIOXIA XG5-P Series PCIe® 3.1a, Max 2,048 GB

2019. 1,024 GB Single package PCIe® Gen3 x4 lane SSDs utilizing 4th generation “BiCS FLASH™” was released. KIOXIA BG4 Series PCIe® 3.0, Max 1,024 GB. 2,048 GB NVMe™ client SSD premium model for high-end client applications and data center was released. KIOXIA XG6-P Series PCIe® 3.0, Max 2,048 GB. 2021. Compact client SSD supporting PCIe® 4.0 was released. KIOXIA BG5 Series PCIe® 4.0, Max 1,024 GB

2022. PCIe® 4.0 SSDs for high-end client applications with high capacity, performance and enhanced security options was released. KIOXIA XG8 Series PCIe® 4.0, Max 4,096 GB. 2023. Small size with high-capacity client PCIe® 4.0 SSDs, which is KIOXIA’s first product utilizing 6th generation “BiCS FLASH™” was released. KIOXIA BG6 Series

Engineer’s Voice

At the time, it was impossible to open a notebook PC and provide instant-on performance. We added this feature, even though it wasn’t a customer requirement, allowing PC to boot very quickly using SSD. It was so well received that a customer offered to develop a specialized notebook PC design leveraging SSD technology, which led to the breakthrough of KIOXIA SSD.

KIOXIA’s Client SSDs have driven the migration of HDDs to SSDs, which has benefited the commercialization of thin and light notebooks with higher performance.

Explore KIOXIA Client SSDs

History of Enterprise / Data Center SSDs Supporting Mission-Critical Systems

Around 2000s. As use of the Internet and cloud computing grew significantly in the late 2000s, KIOXIA began developing SSDs for data centers, which require more robust reliability and higher performance.

2011. 32nm SLC NAND SAS SSD was commercialized. 2012. Industry's largest capacity level* of Enterprise SAS SSD embedded with 24nm MLC NAND was released to adopt our proprietary error correction technology “QSBC”. KIOXIA PX02 Series 24mm eMLC NAND SAS SSD

2015. NVM Express™ compatible, HHHL(Half Height Half Length) Add-in card type SSD was commercialized. KIOXIA PX04 Series PCIe® 3.0 (Gen3 x4), NVMe™ 1.0e. 2017. NVMe™ SSD and SAS SSD utilizing 3rd generation “BiCS FLASH™”, with the industry's first* MultiLink SAS™ architecture was released. KIOXIA CM5 Series PCIe® 3.1a (Gen3 x4), NVMe™ 1.3a. KIOXIA PM5 Series SAS-3.

2020. KIOXIA first PCIe® 4.0 SSDs for enterprise, hyperscale data centers was released. KIOXIA CM6 Series PCIe® 4.0 (Gen4 x4), NVMe™ 1.4. 24G SAS SSDs for servers and storage, PM6, was announced with industry's fastest level* sequential read performance and the industry’s largest* capacity. KIOXIA PM6 Series SAS-4. Industry’s first* PCIe® 4.0 OCP “NVMe™ Cloud SSD Specification”-enabled SSD was released. E1.S form factor designed for hyperscale data center applications is adopted to meet the specific requirements in performance, power and thermal dissipation. KIOXIA XD6 Series PCIe® 4.0 (Gen4 x4), NVMe™ 1.3c. 2021. The industry’s first* lineup of EDSFF E3.S SSDs designed with PCIe® 5.0 technology was released. KIOXIA CD7 Series Designed to PCIe® 5.0 Specification (Gen5 x4), NVMe™ 1.4. PCIe® 4.0-compliant low latency and high endurance Storage Class Memory (SCM) was released. KIOXIA FL6 Series Low latency SSD

2022. 2nd generation 24G SAS SSD utilizing 5th generation “BiCS FLASH™”, with a focus on performance and security was released . The PM7 series utilizes a security module which is validated by the FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validation Program. KIOXIA PM7 Series SAS-4. Next levels of performance with enterprise SSD designed with PCIe® 5.0 technology in E3.S and 2.5-inch form factors was released. KIOXIA CM7 Series PCIe® 5.0 (Gen5 x4), NVMe™ 2.0. 2nd generation SSD for enterprise and hyperscale data centers was released. KIOXIA CD8 Series PCIe® 4.0 (Gen4 x4), NVMe™ 1.4. Next-generation EDSFF E1.S SSDs for hyperscale data centers was released. KIOXIA XD7P Series PCIe® 4.0 (Gen4 x4), NVMe™ 2.0

Engineer’s Voice

We wondered if customers would buy our SSDs, and if this would lead to real business opportunities. We knew the market was there and we had an opportunity, but we were still uncertain as we began our exploration efforts.

As use of the Internet and cloud computing grew significantly and expectation of potential demand and market growth in the enterprise storage and server markets, KIOXIA began full-scale development of SSDs for enterprises and data centers, in addition to client SSDs. SSD interfaces are evolving to further increase performance.

The market changes extremely fast. I joined KIOXIA in 2015. At that time, our maximum SSD capacity was 4TB. In just six years, SSD capacity has increased to over 30TB.
“Just look at this! Isn’t it amazing?” Our deepest desire is to truly develop solutions that meet the needs of our valued customers and make them happy. Creating products that help our customers realize their goals and solve challenges is incredibly exciting and rewarding for us.”

KIOXIA is developing enterprise and data center SSDs to meet next-generation server requirements for processing complex workloads such as distributed processing and edge computing in data centers at high speed and low latency.

Explore KIOXIA Enterprise SSDs

Explore KIOXIA Data Center SSDs

KIOXIA SSD PRODUCT INNOVATION HISTORY

The benefits of big data are being realized, bringing new insights and convenience to our lives.
Making the most out of memory. Helping our society be more sustainable.
Evolving the world’s future with KIOXIA SSDs.

Latest Technology & Challenge

KIOXIA introduces our latest cutting-edge SSD technologies and solutions to address the ever-increasing data volumes being generated and our commitment to the sustainable and green future.

EDSFF - A New SSD Form Factor for Next Gen Servers and Storage

EDSFF aims to address the issues and limitations enterprise and data center users face with legacy form factors by designing a new specification meant for NAND flash memory and other devices.

KIOXIA SSD Security and Encryption

SSD security is critical to safeguard business and customer data. KIOXIA offers SSDs with a range of security functions and encryption options for various requirements, including sanitize instant erase (SIE), self-encrypting drives (SED) and FIPS validation.

Contributing to the Environment through Our Products

We are making efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our products throughout all stages of their lifecycles; this includes appropriate management of chemical substances used in their manufacture and ensuring the products themselves consume as little energy as possible when in use.

KIOXIA SSD x Sustainability: for a Sustainable and Green Future

Introducing the KIOXIA and NTT Communications collaboration regarding KIOXIA's SSD products for a sustainable and green future.

The information on this page is current as of the date of the announcement.
Definition of capacity: KIOXIA Corporation defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2^30 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes and 1TB = 2^40 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content.
Actual formatted capacity may vary.
Images may differ from the actual products and services.
NVM Express and NVMe are registered or unregistered marks of NVM Express, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.
MultiLink SAS is a trademark of the SCSI Trade Association.
Other company names, product names, and service names may be trademarks of third-party companies.
© 2023 KIOXIA Corporation. All rights reserved. Information, including product specifications, content of services, and contact information is believed to be accurate as of July, 2023, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable KIOXIA product specifications.