SK Hynix, Solidigm unveil SSD for data centers

South Korea's SK Hynix Inc., the world’s top-tier semiconductor manufacturer, unveiled its new solid-state drive (SSD) for data centers on April 5. Named P5530, the SSD is the first collaborative product by SK Hynix and its San-Jose-based subsidiary Solidigm, formed last December when SK Hynix completed the first phase of a $9 billion acquisition of Intel’s NAND and SSD business.  

SSD stores data in flash memory. The new device combines 128-layer 4D NAND, SK Hynix’s core product, with Solidigm’s SSD controller. Controllers are chips that support a computer’s mainboard and operating system to use NAND flash memory as data storage.  

The two companies have completed a performance assessment on P5530 and are providing samples to some global data center operators. The new product supports the fourth generation of peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe), a high-speed interface used in the mainboards of digital devices, and is offered in 1, 2 and 4 terabyte (TB) capacity options. SK Hynix and Solidigm have worked together on P5530 since last December, and the new product will step up SK Hynix’s NAND business competitiveness, an SK Hynix official said.  

The global SSD market is further heating up with intensifying competition between Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix. According to London-based market tracker Omdia, Samsung Electronics dominates the market with a 43.1% share. SK Hynix and Solidigm make up 7.5% and 21.2%, respectively. The combined market share of SK Hynix and its subsidiary reaches 28.7%, narrowing the gap between itself and Samsung Electronics to less than 15%. 

The global SSD market is expanding due to contactless trends emerging from COVID-19. According to Omdia, the global enterprise SSD market will increase from $18.6 billion in 2021 to $36.7 billion in 2026 with a 15.7% annual growth rate. 

Samsung Electronics Co. is also stepping up efforts to secure its top spot in the market. The company and Western Digital Technologies Inc. announced on March 30 that they co-signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a new SSD technology.

The first step of the MOU will be creating an ecosystem for Zoned Storage, a class of storage devices that allows both host and storage devices to cooperate for increased storage capacity, higher throughput and lower latency. As SK Hynix plans to boost its share in the SSD market through mergers and acquisitions, the competition for the top spot will be fiercer, a market watcher said.

Write to Shin-Young Park at nyusos@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.