Kioxia introduces a 245TB SSD, now holding the record for the world's largest storage device, capable of storing an impressive 12,500 high-definition 4K films.
Kioxia, a leading manufacturer of memory and storage solutions, has introduced the LC9 series solid-state drive (SSD), boasting a groundbreaking storage capacity of 245.76TB - the highest available in the market.
The LC9 series is currently being sampled to select partners and will be showcased at the Future of Memory and Storage conference in August 2025.
The Kioxia LC9 is built on an unknown proprietary NVMe 2.0-compliant controller with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface, using Kioxia's BiCS8 2Tb 3D QLC NAND memory devices. To achieve this colossal capacity, Kioxia packaged 32 memory devices into a single chip and then attached those chips to the controller.
The LC9 series offers impressive performance, with sequential read speeds of up to 12 GB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 3 GB/s. Random read IOPS reach 1.3 million, while random write IOPS are approximately 50,000.
The drive's capacity and form factors include up to 245.76TB in 2.5-inch and E3.L, as well as up to 122.88TB in 2.5-inch and E3.S variants.
One of the key features of the LC9 series is Flexible Data Placement (FDP), which reduces internal write amplification and extends the usable lifespan, especially in database-driven applications. This feature, along with power loss protection, end-to-end data protection, die-level recovery, and parity-based error management, ensures robust reliability and data integrity.
Security is another priority for the LC9 series. It offers multiple encryption options, including Sanitize Instant Erase (SIE), Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) with AES-256 encryption, FIPS 140-3 compliance in progress, and adoption of CNSA 2.0 signing algorithm with preparedness for post-quantum cryptography (Leighton-Micali Signature algorithm).
The LC9 series is designed for data center environments requiring massive data ingestion and processing, particularly suitable for data lakes, AI workloads, and GenAI environments that demand huge capacity, high bandwidth, and data integrity. The drives will be available in multiple form factors: 2.5-inch U.2 (up to 122.88TB), E3.S (up to 122.88TB), and E.3L (up to 245.76TB).
It's important to note that the LC9 drives are intended for use in data center environments and are not intended for general consumer use. The pricing of the LC9 drives will depend on volumes and other factors, as they have not been disclosed. Kioxia plans to offer the LC9 drives primarily to large hyperscale data center companies.
The Kioxia LC9 drive balances enormous capacity with strong read performance, robust security, and features tailored for next-generation enterprise and AI data center environments, leveraging cutting-edge PCIe 5.0 and advanced 3D QLC NAND technologies.
The Kioxia LC9 series, a groundbreaking solid-state drive (SSD) with a storage capacity of 245.76TB, demonstrates the power of data-and-cloud-computing technology in the realm of memory and storage solutions. This technology-driven innovation is designed for data center environments, offering robust security, impressive performance, and features tailored for next-generation data-intensive applications.
