KIOXIA unveils CD9P Gen5 SSDs with up to 61.44TB capacity, enhanced power efficiency, and performance tuned for AI and HPC workloads.
KIOXIA has unveiled its new CD9P Series of PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs, marking the latest addition to its 8th-generation BiCS FLASH lineup. These drives are designed with a specific focus on the performance demands of AI and HPC workloads, where efficient data handling is essential to keep GPU systems running optimally.
KIOXIA CD9P Series Features
Built with TLC 3D flash memory, the CD9P Series incorporates KIOXIA’s CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) architecture. This technology is intended to improve overall power efficiency and storage density while cutting down on heat output (very important in data center environments). Moreover, the new drives offer double the storage capacity of KIOXIA’s previous generation in the same form factor. KIOXIA also added support for the CNSA 2.0 digital signing algorithm, which is designed to future-proof firmware security against potential threats from quantum computing.
With data-hungry GPUs at the heart of many modern AI systems, ensuring a rapid data flow to these processors is crucial. The CD9P Series looks to address this by significantly improving throughput and reducing latency, ensuring GPUs remain active rather than idle. According to their internal testing, the new drives are quoted to deliver up to 125% better random write performance and a 30% improvement in random read operations compared to earlier models. KIOXIA also claims that sequential read and write speeds are up by 20% and 25%, respectively.
KIOXIA has engineered the CD9P Series to support PCIe 5.0 and NVMe 2.0 standards and meets several of the Open Compute Project’s Datacenter NVMe SSD 2.5 specifications. The drives will be available in both 2.5-inch and EDSFF E3.S form factors, with the largest offering up to 61.44TB. The E3.S form factor enables KIOXIA’s CD9P SSDs to operate at higher power levels with improved cooling, thereby maintaining peak performance even under intense workloads. It also allows for more drives to be fitted into a server, making it easier to scale up storage without requiring additional space.
Two endurance options are also planned, including a read-intensive (1 DWPD) model and a mixed-use (3 DWPD) model.
KIOXIA CD9P Series Power Efficiency and Performance
For power efficiency improvements, the new SSDs reportedly achieve around 60% better sequential read and 45% better sequential write performance per watt than their predecessors. Gains are even more dramatic in random operations, with read and write improvements per watt reaching approximately 55% and 100%, respectively.
As for performance specifics, the new SSDs can achieve sequential speeds of up to 14.8GB/s for reads and 7GB/s for writes. In random performance, the drives offer up to 2.6 million IOPS for reads and 750,000 IOPS for writes, depending on the configuration.
KIOXIA CD9P Series Availability
While sampling is currently limited to select customers, the CD9P Series will be showcased at the upcoming HPE Discover 2025 event in Las Vegas.
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