KIOXIA Announces High-Capacity LC9 Series 122.88 TB NVMe SSD for AI Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 13, 2025 –  KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced the development of its new LC9 Series 122.88 terabyte (TB) capacity NVMe™ SSD in a 2.5-inch form factor – the first SSD built with the company’s BiCS FLASH™ generation 8 3D flash memory technology QLC 2 terabit (Tb) die.

As AI systems become increasingly sophisticated and data volumes continue to grow, enterprises require storage solutions that can keep pace with the complex demands of modern workloads. High-capacity drives are critical for certain phases of the AI process, including large language models (LLMs), training and storing vast datasets, vector databases and the rapid retrieval of information for inference and fine-tuning. Designed for generative AI applications, the new enterprise-class KIOXIA drive is built for capacity and provides a PCIe^® 5.0 interface and dual-port capability for fault tolerance or connectivity to multiple compute systems.  These high-capacity QLC-based SSDs are suitable for deploying in hybrid cloud and multi-cloud systems.  High-capacity SSDs feed training and inference data to AI server systems via these cloud configurations.

The new KIOXIA SSD complements the recently announced KIOXIA AiSAQ™ technology, which enhances scalable RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) performance by storing vector database elements on SSDs instead of costly, limited DRAM. Additionally, it improves system and rack-level efficiency with higher storage density and lower power consumption per TB compared to lower-capacity SSDs.

“As AI adoption accelerates and larger LLMs and vector databases become more prevalent, the need for high-capacity SSD storage is surging,” commented Gregory Wong, founder and principal analyst, Forward Insights. “Advanced storage solutions such as KIOXIA’s LC9 Series 122.88 TB SSD will be critical in supporting the growing computational needs of AI models, enabling greater efficiency and innovation.”

KIOXIA LC9 Series SSD highlights include:

• Dual-port 2.5-inch SSD form factor, 122.88 TB capacity, 0.3 DWPD endurance.
• NVMe 2.0, NVMe-MI™ and PCIe^® 5.0 specification-compliant (up to 128 gigatransfers per second Gen5 1x4, 2x2 performance capable).
• Features KIOXIA 2 Tb QLC BiCS FLASH™ generation 8 3D flash memory with CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology.

“AI workloads are pushing the boundaries of data storage, demanding higher capacities and faster access to vast datasets that reside in today’s data lakes,” said Neville Ichhaporia, senior vice president and general manager of the SSD business unit at KIOXIA America, Inc. “The new LC9 Series NVMe SSD from KIOXIA can accelerate AI model training, inference, and RAG at scale.”

The KIOXIA LC9 Series SSD will be showcased at an upcoming conference.

For more information, please visit www.kioxia.com, and follow the company on X, formerly known as Twitter and LinkedIn^®.

About KIOXIA America, Inc.

KIOXIA America, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough BiCS FLASH™ 3D technology, KIOXIA continues to pioneer innovative memory, SSD and software solutions that enrich people's lives and expand society's horizons. The company's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems. For more information, please visit KIOXIA.com.

Notes:

2.5-inch indicates the form factor of the SSD and not its physical size.

Read and write speed may vary depending on various factors such as host devices, software (drivers, OS etc.), and read/write conditions.

Definition of capacity: KIOXIA Corporation defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2^30 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes and 1TB = 2^40 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary.

NVMe and NVMe-MI are registered or unregistered trademarks of NVM Express, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.

LinkedIn is a trademark of LinkedIn Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.

Other company names, product names and service names may be trademarks of third-party companies.

Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services, and contact information is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable KIOXIA product specifications.