Micron Unveils High-Performance SSDs Optimized for AI Data Centers

The latest SSDs from Micron are focussed on improving AI Data Centre performance

These enterprise level SSDs are going to make AI faster, and hopefully a bit smarter too. AI has changed the face of computing hardware so much since it started gaining popularity. With its stranglehold on just about every conversation around tech its clearly the current driving force. Now, more and more, manufacturers are looking to find ways to optimise better for AI, be it something like Nvidia's DLSS4 optimised series of graphics cards or Micron's new lineup of SSDs designed to work best with data centre AI. The new lineup from Micron is the first to use the brand's newest G9 NAND node in order to optimise these drives for AI data centre usage. It consists of the 9650 SSD, the 6600 ION SSD, and the 7600 SSD all designed to tackle different problems AI computing can come up against. None of these are particularly interesting for us regular PC gamers, but the move in technology is cool, especially when you consider that all of these are boasting marked power usage improvements over older models. The 9650 SSD is a PCIe 6th gen drive that boasts 28 GB/s sequential read and 14 GB/s write speeds. I like to sit here and imagine transfering data at those speeds and it makes me a little giddy. These are said to be the fastest of its kind, and should help speed up large enterprise tasks like AI training and accessing large language models. It's also said to be much more energy efficient than its predecessor, so hopefully we can cut down on some of the environmental costs of AI. Next on the list is the Micron 6600 ION SSD, a massively scalable storage solution. These can come in up to 245TBs in a single drive, and the 122TB version is only about the size of a deck of playing cards. These are AI infrastructure SSDs designed for sifting through and storing large data sets and building huge data lakes to wade out into. Lastly, the 7600 SSD is another PCIe based drive but this time only a Gen5. These are striking a mix between affordability and more a stoic mix of performance, low latency, and predictable reliability. Again we are seeing a strong focus on performance per power over previous offerings while still pushing the speed to get through modern AI workloads. Again, these data centre style solutions are very unlikely to ever be things that suit your gaming needs, but it's an interesting direction to witness. AI powered tech is literally being fought over by countries with sanctions being levied against China from the U.S. Meanwhile, the newest gaming PCs are starting to use AI tech more and more to deliver better framerates than ever before, or to tell us we aren't playing games when we are. It won't be long before gamers are being sold our own AI optimised SSDs, though hopefully they'll be a little more affordable than these data centre forefathers.

Micron Unveils Portfolio of Industry-First Ssds to Power the Ai Revolution

Micron Technology, Inc. develops innovative memory and storage solutions to address the data needs of the AI-driven data center with superior performance, capacity and energy efficiency. Micron extends its industry leadership in storage with the launch of three new data center SSDs all built with Micron G9 NAND. This expansion of Micron's storage portfolio includes the world's first PCIe Gen6 NVMe SSD, industry-leading capacity for an E3.S SSD and the lowest latency mainstream Gen5 SSD for AI data centers. These new products are highly performant, energy and space efficient, and validated with leading ecosystem partners to streamline qualification and ensure seamless integration, making them the ideal portfolio for the widely divergent needs of AI workloads. The reduction in power consumption and carbon emissions allows data centers to meet sustainability goals while enhancing performance. Record-setting Gen6 performance: Up to 28 GB/s sequential read and 14 GB/s sequential write speeds; Up to 5.5 MIOPS random read and 900 KIOPS random write speeds; FIPS 140-3 Level 2 and Trade Agreement Act (TAA) compliant options help ensure SSDs sold to the U.S. government are manufactured or substantially transformed in the United States or in designated countries; Pioneering ecosystem collaborations, including prior public demonstrations with Astera Labs and Broadcom accelerate adoption through proven interoperability; A liquid-cooled E1.S version is available for the most advanced AI servers. With up to 5.5 million IOPS for random reads, the Micron 9650 is purpose-built for AI pipelines' high-throughput, low-latency demands. This product helps ensure GPUs remain continuously fed with data, minimizing idle cycles and maximizing system efficiency. At the time of announcement, no other Gen6 competitive SSDs are available that can provide the same or better performance as the Micron 9650 Gen6 SSD. The 9650 has two times the sequential read performance of the previous-generation 9550. Additionally, the Micron 6600 ION currently provides the highest-capacity solution available in a rack comparison using Micron E3.S drives: 20 SSDs per 1U x 36 servers (36U) x 122TB equals 88.5PB versus similar competitive U.2 form factor SSDs with 24 SSDs per 2U x 18 servers (36U) x122TB equaling 53PB, leaving 6U for other equipment in each rack. The Micron 7600 SSD has the lowest latency based on competitive testing in Micron labs and has the lowest sub-1ms latency up to QD128 based on RocksDB testing in Micron labs with available drives, per chapter 5.2 The 9650 has improved energy efficiency with two times the sequential read performance the 9550 SSD, Micron's previous-generation drive, with the same 25W maximum power.