Kioxia Corporation has announced and demonstrated prototypes of its latest CM9 Series PCIe 5.0 NVMe solid-state drives (SSDs), equipped with its new eighth-generation BiCS FLASH triple-level-cell (TLC) 3D flash memory featuring CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) technology. According to Kioxia, the CBA architecture significantly enhances SSD performance by increasing NAND interface speeds, density, and power efficiency, while reducing latency and doubling the capacity per flash device compared to the previous generation.
Performance improvements cited by Kioxia include approximately 65% higher random write speeds, 55% higher random read speeds, and 95% faster sequential write speeds compared to its earlier CM7 Series. Additionally, the CM9 Series delivers better power efficiency, reporting approximately 55% higher sequential read and 75% higher sequential write performance-per-watt compared to the prior generation drives.
Designed specifically for next-generation data center workloads, Kioxia’s CM9 Series targets applications demanding enterprise-class performance and energy efficiency, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and high-performance computing (HPC).
The CM9 Series SSDs comply with PCIe 5.0, NVMe 2.0, NVMe Management Interface (NVMe-MI) 1.2c, and the Open Compute Project (OCP) Datacenter NVMe SSD 2.5 specification, and are offered with dual-port support in conventional 2.5-inch form factor (capacity up to 61.44 terabytes) and E3.S form factor (capacity up to 30.72 terabytes). According to preliminary data from Kioxia, sequential read and write performance reach up to 14.8 GB/s and 11 GB/s, respectively (128 KiB/QD32). Random performance is specified at 3,400 KIOPS (4 KiB random/QD512) and 800 KIOPS (4 KiB random/QD32). The SSDs feature endurance options for read-intensive workloads (one drive write per day, or DWPD) and mixed-use scenarios (three DWPD).
Kioxia CM9 Series SSDs are currently sampling to select customers, with product demonstrations scheduled at Dell Technologies World from May 19 through May 22, 2025, in Las Vegas.
Source: KIOXIA America
