When Micron unveiled its new 60TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD, Phison has just surpassed it with a 122TB SSD that offers double the capacity and superior write speeds. Solidigm also announced a drive with similar storage space, but it only supports PCIe 4.0.
Solidigm and Phison nearly simultaneously revealed upcoming data center PCIe SSDs with capacities over 120TB on Thursday, just hours after Micron’s 60TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD set a new standard.
Micron asserts that its 6550 ION is the world’s first 60TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, boasting a sequential read speed of 12GB/s at 1.6 million IOPs. However, Phison’s Pascari D205V offers 122.88TB and reads at 14.6GB/s with 3 million IOPs, despite being labeled as a 128TB drive.
Key Details
While Micron’s SSD trails in size and read speed, it maintains advantages in other areas. For example, it writes at 5GB/s compared to Phison’s 3.2GB/s and takes around three and a half hours to fill.
Micron’s SSD is also slightly more energy-efficient, drawing 20W under load versus Phison’s 25W. This difference might add up when using multiple drives. Both companies promote their new SSDs as tools for conserving physical space and reducing energy consumption. AI data centers are also a key target market.
Availability
The 6550 ION is available worldwide in E3.S, U.2, and E1.L form factors for limited sampling, but the public release date remains unclear. Pre-orders for the D205V are open, with shipping expected in Q2 of next year in U.2 and E3.L formats.
Phison will showcase its new hardware at the SC24 event in Atlanta from November 17 to November 22. The company will also exhibit the PS7161, the world’s first PCIe 6.0 redriver, with shipping expected in Q1 2025.
Solidigm’s 122TB D5-P5336 enterprise SSD is available for sampling, with general availability for U.2 and E1.L form factors starting early next year. However, the drive is limited to PCIe Gen 4 with a 7GB/s read speed (1.005 million IOPs) and 3GB/s write speed, drawing 23W.
