KIOXIA has introduced the CM10 Series, the company’s first PCIe 6.0 enterprise SSD and its first enterprise drive built on BiCS FLASH generation 10 TLC memory. The drives cover E3.S, E1.S, and 2.5-inch form factors, with capacities ranging from 1.60TB to 61.44TB and endurance options for both read-intensive and mixed-use workloads.
The PCIe 6.0 portion of the CM10 family includes E3.S drives with a 7.5mm thickness and E1.S models in 9.5mm and 15mm formats. These EDSFF versions use 332-layer BiCS FLASH generation 10 TLC memory, while the 15mm 2.5-inch model uses a PCIe 5.0 interface and BiCS FLASH generation 8 TLC memory.
All three form factors support NVMe 2.1 and the Open Compute Project Datacenter NVMe SSD Specification 2.7, although not all requirements in the OCP specification are supported. NVMe Flexible Data Placement is also included, allowing compatible hosts to organize data placement to reduce internal write amplification and improve flash utilization.
KIOXIA CM10 Targets AI Inference and KV Cache Workloads
The CM10 Series is aimed at enterprise and AI workloads, including AI inference and key-value cache. KIOXIA says the drives are designed to support the NVIDIA CMX context memory storage solution, which extends effective GPU memory with a shared, pod-level context tier optimized for ephemeral KV cache.
KIOXIA frames the demand in specific terms: as AI models scale to trillions of parameters and agentic AI context windows expand to millions of tokens, the need for high-performance KV cache storage grows accordingly. Moving part of that cache from GPU memory to high-speed flash gives infrastructure designers another tier for retaining context data without holding all of it in accelerator memory.
Compared with the previous CM9 Series, the CM10 is rated for up to approximately 92% higher sequential read performance and up to approximately 85% higher random read performance. As always, actual real-world performance will depend on the host platform, software, drivers, operating system, and workload conditions.
“As AI infrastructure evolves, storage must deliver not only higher performance but also greater efficiency and deployment flexibility,” said Neville Ichhaporia, senior vice president and general manager of the SSD business unit at KIOXIA America. “The KIOXIA CM10 Series reflects our continued commitment to advancing flash storage that helps customers build more capable, scalable, and efficient AI infrastructure.”
KIOXIA CM10 Series Specifications
| Specification | EDSFF Models | 2.5-inch Model |
|---|---|---|
| Interface and Form Factor | ||
| Interface | PCIe 6.0; NVMe 2.1 specification compliant | PCIe 5.0; NVMe 2.1 specification compliant |
| OCP support | OCP Datacenter NVMe SSD Specification v2.7 support; not all requirements are supported | OCP Datacenter NVMe SSD Specification v2.7 support; not all requirements are supported |
| NVMe Flexible Data Placement | Supported | Supported |
| Form factor | E3.S, 7.5 mm thickness E1.S, 9.5 mm or 15 mm thickness |
2.5-inch, 15 mm thickness |
| Capacity and endurance | Capacities from 1.60 TB to 61.44 TB across the CM10 Series, varying by form factor; read-intensive (1 DWPD) and mixed-use (3 DWPD) endurance options | |
| Architecture and Data Protection | ||
| Architecture | KIOXIA controller and firmware with BiCS FLASH generation 10 TLC memory | KIOXIA controller and firmware with BiCS FLASH generation 8 TLC memory |
| High availability | Dual-port design on E3.S models only | Dual-port design |
| Data protection | Power loss protection and end-to-end data protection | Power loss protection and end-to-end data protection |
| Security options | SIE, SED, planned SED FIPS 140-3, post-quantum cryptography, CNSA 2.0, and SPDM 1.4 attestation support | |
| Power and Cooling | ||
| Power states | Power states above 25W supported | Not specified |
| Cooling | Traditional air cooling supported on all EDSFF models Direct cold-plate liquid cooling supported on E3.S and 9.5 mm E1.S models |
Traditional air cooling supported |
| Power management | NVMe TP4199 Self-Reported Drive Power Support | NVMe TP4199 Self-Reported Drive Power Support |
Direct Liquid Cooling for E3.S and E1.S
Direct cold-plate liquid cooling is supported by the E3.S and 9.5mm E1.S models, while every CM10 form factor can operate in a traditional air-cooled environment. The capability is not unique to this family: KIOXIA introduced its first liquid-cooled SSD a day before the CM10 with the E1.S NX1 Series, a PCIe 5.0 data center drive built on generation 8 memory.
The PCIe 6.0 EDSFF drives support power states above 25W, giving the controller and flash a larger power envelope for higher-performance workloads. NVMe TP4199 Self-Reported Drive Power support allows the SSD to communicate its power use to compatible systems.
Dual-port connectivity is included on the E3.S and 2.5-inch versions for high-availability deployments. Power loss protection and end-to-end data protection are available across the listed form factors. Moreover, security options include Secure Instant Erase, Self-Encrypting Drive models, a planned FIPS 140-3 SED option, post-quantum cryptography, CNSA 2.0 support, and SPDM 1.4 attestation. Optional SED models support TCG Opal SSC, with some feature exceptions, and may not be available in every country due to local regulations.
KIOXIA CM10 Series Availability
KIOXIA CM10 Series drives are currently being sampled for select customers for functional testing, and the sample specifications may differ from the eventual production versions. KIOXIA will display the drives at FMS: the Future of Memory and Storage in Santa Clara, California, from August 4 to 6.
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