TrendForce has issued its latest findings, indicating that the global SSD market has rectified its supply and demand dynamics in 2022, following a resolution in the shortage of master control ICs that had hampered the market in 2021. Despite the normalization of supply, global SSD shipments witnessed a decline, with only 114 million units shipped in 2022—a 10.7% decrease from the prior year.

The top three SSD shipment leaders of 2022 were Kingston, ADATA, and Lexar, with Kingston and ADATA maintaining solid advantages and experiencing growth in market share over 2021. Lexar's growth was attributed to an aggressive push for revenue in anticipation of going public. Kimtigo, in 2022, made significant strides in expanding into industrial control and OEM markets, which in turn boosted its shipment volume and market share. Netac maintained its competitive edge in the SSD market alongside securing several government orders in the enterprise SSD sector, keeping its market share and ranking consistent with the previous year.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), today announced the availability of the Crucial T500 Gen 4 NVMe SSD as an expansion of its award-winning NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) portfolio. The Crucial T500 SSD is a best-in-class PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, which leverages Micron's advanced 232-layer 3D NAND technology with industry-leading NAND I/O speeds of 2.4 gigabytes per second (GB/s) and is engineered to improve performance for console and PC gamers, photo and video editors and content creators. Available in two options, the T500 SSD with the heatsink is specifically designed for platforms like the PlayStation 5 (PS5) and PC gaming rigs, while the version without the heatsink fits well in laptops, desktops and workstations.

The T500 offers up to a 40% higher performance-to-power ratio, and speeds that are two times faster than the previous Gen 3 NVMe SSD offering. With lightning-fast sequential read and write speeds up to 7,400 MB/s and 7,000 MB/s respectively, Crucial T500 SSDs enable gamers to load games up to 16% faster, get quicker game texture renders and reduced CPU utilization with Microsoft DirectStorage. Likewise, it is easy to install and has up to 2 TB of storage - making it perfect for PS5 upgrades or UHD/8K+ videos. The T500 also delivers up to 42% faster performance in content creation applications, allowing users to run heavy workloads and render photos or videos faster.

Thanks to the information from Windows Report, we have received numerous details regarding Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon Elite X chip for laptops. The Snapdragon Elite X SoC is built on top of Nuvia-derived Oryon cores, which Qualcomm put 12 off in the SoC. While we don't know their base frequencies, the all-core boost reaches 3.8 GHz. The SoC can reach up to 4.3 GHz on single and dual-core boosting. However, the slide notes that this is all pure "big" core configuration of the SoC, so no big.LITTLE design is done. The GPU part of Snapdragon Elite X is still based on Qualcomm's Adreno IP; however, the performance figures are up significantly to reach 4.6 TeraFLOPS of supposedly FP32 single-precision power. Accompanying the CPU and GPU, there are dedicated AI and image processing accelerators, like Hexagon Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which can process 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS). For the camera, the Spectra Image Sensor Processor (ISP) is there to support up to 4K HDR video capture on a dual 36 MP or a single 64 MP camera setup.

The SoC supports LPDDR5X memory running at 8533 MT/s and a maximum capacity of 64 GB. Apparently, the memory controller is an 8-channel one with a 16-bit width and a maximum bandwidth of 136 GB/s. Snapdragon Elite X has PCIe 4.0 and supports UFS 4.0 for outside connection. All of this is packed on a die manufactured by TSMC on a 4 nm node. In addition to marketing excellent performance compared to x86 solutions, Qualcomm also advertises the SoC as power efficient. The slide notes that it uses 1/3 of the power at the same peak PC performance of x86 offerings. It is also interesting to note that the package will support WiFi7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Officially coming in 2024, the Snapdragon Elite X will have to compete with Intel's Meteor Lake and/or Arrow Lake, in addition to AMD Strix Point.

Advantech has skillfully incorporated 13th Gen Intel Core processors across a wide array of products, setting new benchmarks for performance and capability. These enhanced solutions harness cutting-edge CPU architectures in their latest designs, delivering a noticeable performance boost over the previous processor generation. This upgrade significantly enhances application efficiency in smart factories, computer vision, intelligent retail, healthcare, and edge AI applications. At Advantech, we are unwavering in our commitment to providing long-term support, ensuring that customers can rely on our products for uninterrupted operation.

Advantech's new solutions offer Intel processors with up to 24 cores and 32 threads, up to 128 GB of DDR5 memory, and a PCIe 4.0/5.0 x16 slot for efficient multitasking. Experience optimized productivity with Advantech's Embedded Design-In Services and quality solutions featuring industrial-grade components. Advantech's embedded OS and value-added software options include Windows, Ubuntu, and Yocto BSP, along with the Edge AI Suite for AI performance evaluation and DeviceOn for device management.

T-CREATE, the creator brand under Team Group Inc., the global leading memory provider, today introduced the T-CREATE CLASSIC C4 Series PCIe 4.0 SSD, which comes in various specifications and capacities. Featured with an ultra-thin graphene-patented heat-sink (US invention patent: US 110,513,92 B2; Taiwan invention patent: I703921), it conducts more stable performance, allowing creators to freely express their artistic creativity with a peace of mind. With the growing landscape of creators and an expanding, diverse field of creative content within the market, the T-CREATE series of products has given creators a more stable space to unleash their creativity.

The T-CREATE CLASSIC C4 Series PCIe 4.0 SSD offers three different models: C47, C45, and C43, providing three different speed specifications, with a maximum reading speed of 7000 MB/s, 5000 MB/s, and 3000 MB/s, and capacities ranging from 512 GB to 4 TB. With multiple speeds, it allows creators to freely choose to meet their creative needs. The T-CREATE CLASSIC C4 Series PCIe 4.0 SSD is equipped with the ultra-thin graphene patented heat-sink label (US invention patent: US 110,513,92 B2; Taiwan invention patent: I703921), enabling the SSD to achieve high performance while effectively stabilizing system operation by mitigating heat-related concerns. Supporting the SLC Caching technology and employing a customized high-stability controller and firmware, with intelligent algorithms and a high-rate LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) debugging mechanism, the SSD improves the efficiency of data operations by taking into account the security and integrity of data transmission, thereby enhancing the reliability of the creation process.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced the release of a new 4-terabyte (TB) offering in its SSD 990 PRO series. The 990 PRO series is a lineup of high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSDs powered by Samsung's eighth-generation V-NAND (V8) technology and enhanced proprietary controller. Offering blazing-fast speeds and ultimate power efficiency, the 990 PRO series is optimized for massive data volumes, such as 3D/4K graphics work, data analytics and high-quality games, making it the ideal SSD for today's PCs, laptops, game consoles and computing systems. With improved total bytes written (TBW) ratings of up to 2,400 TB, the 990 PRO series ensures increased SSD reliability and longevity, ideal for those with highly demanding workloads and large storage capacity needs.

"Today's gamers and creative professionals require high-capacity, high-performance SSDs and Samsung's new 4 TB SSD 990 PRO is the perfect storage solution to meet their needs," said Hangu Sohn, Corporate Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics. "As the demand for high-resolution content and ultra-fast data-processing speeds continues to grow, high-performance NVMe storage has become a core requirement."

TrendForce research reveals that, due to the impacts of high inflation and economic downturn, CSPs are adopting more conservative strategies when it comes to capital expenditure and consistently reducing their annual server demand forecasts. Currently, CSPs in China have reported a decline in cloud orders compared to last year, leading to a subsequent decrease in annual procurement volumes for enterprise SSDs. In North America, some clients have postponed mass production timelines for new server platforms while ramping up investments in AI servers. These factors have resulted in enterprise SSD orders falling below expectations. Consequently, global enterprise SSD revenue hit an all-time low in the second quarter, totaling just $1,500 million—a QoQ decrease of 24.9%.

Demand for AI servers remains strong in the third quarter, while orders and shipment momentum for general-purpose servers have yet to show signs of recovery. This continues to put pressure on the purchasing volume of enterprise SSDs, and annual bit volume is expected to be lower than last year. Meanwhile, vendors have once again reduced capacity utilization to slow down inventory growth. Server customers still maintain high inventory levels, and their purchasing momentum remains insufficient. This is expected to lead to an approximate 15% QoQ decline in the average price of enterprise SSDs in the third quarter, which may further result in a lackluster revenue performance for the peak season.

Samsung Semiconductor introduced its 990 PRO Flagship PCIe Gen 4 SSD range a year ago, with 1 TB and 2 TB models available day one on launch. The South Korean company also teased a 4 TB variant for release in 2023—recent activity on social media indicates that the higher capacity model will be coming soon (but no firm date was touted): "You wanted it so badly, we had no choice but to deliver. The 4 TB 990 PRO by Samsung SSD is coming. Same blazing-fast storage with double the max capacity for gaming, video, 3D editing, and more. Stay tuned for more details."

According to Samsung's specification sheet, the 990 Pro 4 TB is due to arrive in two forms—a plain drive (MZ-V9P4T0BW) with a simple/thin graphene heat spreader and a fancier version sporting an aluminium heatsink (MZ-V9P4T0CW). The latest marketing blurb continues to place emphasis on the 990 Pro M.2 2280 drives being ideal candidates for upgrading the PlayStation 5's (PCIe 4.0) internal storage—we will have to wait closer to launch time for the 4 TB variant's MSRP, although its eventual pricing is most likely going to target enthusiast PC users. The 2 TB model (w/ heatsink) is currently available for $149.99 (down from the original launch value of $309.99) at the time of writing.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the global leading motherboard, mini PC, notebook, mobile device, and smart solution provider, will attend Europe's largest and the most iconic consumer electronics trade show, IFA Berlin 2023, to exhibit a series of new laptops for education and business.

Optimize Cloud-Based Learning & Teaching: A New Series of Education Chromebooks Can Fulfill Teachers' and Students' Different Needs
After the world enters the post-pandemic era, there are enormous changes in both teaching and learning modes. Meanwhile, digital trend is arising. To meet various requirements from education fields, ECS launches the brand new SG20, SE40, and EP20 education PC series. These thin and ultraportable laptops feature rugged chassis certified by MIL-STD-810H tests. Equipped with Chrome OS, their battery life can last up to 10 hours. Besides, they support 4G LTE and Wi-Fi 6, which is ideal for remote learning.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is delivering a high-throughput, low latency E3.S storage solutions supporting the industry's first PCIe Gen 5 drives and CXL modules to meet the demands of large AI Training and HPC clusters, where massive amounts of unstructured data must be delivered to the GPUs and CPUs to achieve faster results.

Supermicro's Petascale systems are a new class of storage servers supporting the latest industry standard E3.S (7.5 mm) Gen 5 NVMe drives from leading storage vendors for up to 256 TB of high throughput, low latency storage in 1U or up to a half petabyte in 2U. Inside, Supermicro's innovative symmetrical architecture reduced latency by ensuring the shortest signal paths for data and maximized airflow over critical components, allowing them to run at optimal speeds. With these new systems, a standard rack can now hold over 20 Petabytes of capacity for high throughput NVMe-oF (NVMe over Fabrics) configurations, ensuring that GPUs remain saturated with data. Systems are available with either the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors or 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors.

As a global provider of ultimate storage products and solutions, Hangzhou Hikstorage Technology Co.,Ltd.("Hiksemi") is committed to constantly exploring and inventing to meet the demand of consumers. Seeing that SSDs have emerged as the mainstream technology in digital data storage, Hiksemi has made full efforts in the field of PCIe 4.0 SSDs with the rich technical experience. Recently, Hiksemi has launched high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSD, FUTURE Series, designed for PC enthusiasts, gamers and content creators.

Just as the name FUTURE, this series is born to break limits and embrace the future. FUTURE SSD has faster speed, stronger performance, larger capacity, making users even more powerful in the world of game entertainment and content creation.

Gigabyte has added three additional AMD A620 based motherboards to its lineup after the initial two that were announced on the launch day. The three new models are the A620M DS3H, A620M S2H and A620M H, all three models being mATX motherboards. The A620M DS3H is the board with most features and it's the only model to include a VRM heatsink as well as four memory slots. Common features among the three boards include a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, a single PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe slot—that supports the slightly wider 2580 form factor—four SATA ports and somewhat surprisingly for this range of boards, a DP 1.4 port and an HDMI 2.1 port.

All three boards also sport Gigabit Ethernet and a Realtek based audio solution, as well as a 90 degree angled USB 3.2 5 Gbps header. The A620M DS3H is the only model that gets a USB Type-C port around the back, but it's limited to 5 Gbps data speeds. All three models also support Gigabyte's QFlash Plus UEFI recovery/flashing solution, making it possible to update the UEFI/BIOS without having a CPU in the board. All three boards support the full range of AM5 CPUs up to 170 W, courtesy of a 5+2+2 PWM design. These might not be the most exciting boards, but they seem like a solid budget range.

It appears that Western Digital is getting ready to expand its budget line of WD Blue SSDs with yet another model, this time a smaller jump from the SN570 to the SN580, compared to the jump in model numbers from the SN550 to the SN570. The drive has passed through the PCI-SIG integrators list and from that information we only know it's a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive with a four lane interface. However, some retailers have already put up the drive for pre-order and this helps us with a few more details.

For starters, it appears that we're once again looking at drives in the 500 GB to the 2 TB range, although this doesn't mean that WD couldn't launch a 4 TB variant as well, but it seems unlikely. What we also learnt is that these product pages are place holders, as the drives are listed for the same, or higher pricing than the WD Black SN850X, which makes no sense for a budget drive which should be closer to the US$100/€100 mark than the equivalent of twice that. Another European retailer is also listing the current SN570 as being EOL:ed on the 31st of July, suggesting that the SN580 should launch around that date. The same retailer is listing the SN580 as the replacement drive under its part number, which is WDS200T3B0E for the 2 TB SKU.

Today, Kioxia Corporation, a world leader in memory solutions, announced that its PCIe 4.0 NVMe and SAS SSDs have been successfully tested for compatibility and interoperability with Microchip Technology Inc. ("Microchip's") Adaptec HBA 1200 Series, SmartHBA 2200 Series host bus adapters (HBAs) and SmartRAID 3200 Series RAID adapters.

As one of the broadest portfolios of SSDs in the industry, KIOXIA drives are available for client PCs, as well as data center, hyperscale and enterprise servers and storage systems. KIOXIA CD6, CD8, and CM6 Series PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs and KIOXIA PM6 and PM7 Series 24G SAS SSDs all successfully completed compatibility testing performed by Microchip.

The Sabrent Quad NVMe SSD to PCIe 4.0 x16 Card (EC-P4BF) is the perfect complement for a desktop that requires additional high-performance storage. Add one, two, three, or four NVMe SSDs with a single, physical x16 PCIe slot adapter. A bifurcation setting in the BIOS is required. Only M.2 M key SSDs are supported, but older and newer generation SSDs in the 2230/2242/2260/2280 form factors will work at up to PCIe 4.0 speeds. The adapter is also backward compatible with PCIe 3.0/2.0 slots. Drives can be accessed individually or placed into a RAID via Intel VROC, AMD Ryzen NVMe RAID, UEFI RAID, or software-based RAID through Windows Storage Spaces when respective criteria are met.

High-performance drives and systems may require high-end cooling, and this adapter has you covered. It's constructed out of aluminium material for physical stability and improved heat dissipation. It also includes thermal padding for all four SSDs to keep things cool and in place. Active cooling for high-performance environments is optional with a switchable fan. The adapter is plug-and-play with driverless operation. Rear-mounted LEDs quickly show the drive status for a quick visual update. The host must support PCIe bifurcation (lane splitting) to access more than one drive, so be sure to check your motherboard's manual ahead of time.

Regular readers of TPU might remember our in-depth USB4 article that we posted almost a year ago, but since then, very little has happened and ASMedia has as yet to make its ASM4242 USB4 host controller available to its partners and then ASM2464 USB4 to PCIe 4.0 bridge was suffering the same fate until May this year, when it was released to ASMedia's customers. It turns out most of it is related to USB-IF certification and the USB4 design documentation, as the certification wasn't quite ready for a third party host controller and the design documents were—shall we say—less than complete and relied too heavily on the Thunderbolt 3 spec. This meant that ASMedia had to retest and redo a lot of work they had done, due to a certain spec donator having assumed that other companies knew how it had designed its Thunderbolt products.

The good news is that we should see the ASM4242 in the market before the end of this year and ASMedia is busy testing it and its ASM2464 with a wide range of products to make sure compatibility is as good as possible. In the company suite at Computex, ASMedia was showing the ASM2464 connected to Apple's M2 silicon, as well as Intel's latest CPUs with integrated Thunderbolt 4 support. There had been some performance related issues from Apple's side, but this has apparently been resolved in a recent update from Apple. As far as Intel is concerned, there are no compatibility issues with the 13th and possibly 12th gen mobile chips, but older Thunderbolt hardware might require a firmware update, which may or may not exist. Older Intel hardware also doesn't perform as well as its most recent solutions, but it doesn't mean there will be compatibility issues outright. As for AMD, ASMedia informed TPU that there were no issues, since AMD has a USB4 implementation in its mobile products that follow the USB-IF spec.

2023. There are three cases that Lian Li is presenting: O11D EVO XL, O11D EVO RGB, O11 Vision, and SUP 01. Starting off with the O11D EVO XL, it is a versatile e-ATX case designed to house cutting-edge hardware, with the added flexibility of being set up in a reverse configuration. This case allows for placing a GPU next to the motherboard, either upright or flipped, in either standard or reverse setups. It is also equipped with an adaptable I/O module that can be mounted at various points for optimal user-friendliness. Furthermore, the O11D XL comes with a detachable support column on the front left, providing unimpeded visual access to the case's interior. It also boasts a motherboard tray that can be adjusted in height for three different cooling arrangements, even accommodating up to three 420 radiators simultaneously.

ASRock, a global leader in motherboards, graphics cards, monitors, and small form factor PCs, is excited to announce its participation in the upcoming COMPUTEX Taipei 2023 after years of anticipation. ASRock will showcase a range of breathtaking innovative products and highly anticipated technology demonstrations. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the ASRock latest products and solutions firsthand; also, get the immersive gaming experience at ASRock booth.

Unveiling the Next-Gen ASRock Monitors
ASRock is set to showcase an exciting lineup of monitors at COMPUTEX 2023, featuring six existing products along with new gaming and business models. The spotlight will be on the PG558KF and PG32UMF, two high-end monitors.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today is thrilled to unveil THE BIOSTAR AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card, built to deliver uncompromising graphics performance for gamers and content creators. The BIOSTAR AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card is the perfect solution for those who demand superior performance and durability. With its advanced AMD RDNA 3 architecture and powerful features, the graphics card delivers immersive gaming experiences with stunning visuals and exceptional performance.

The BIOSTAR AMD Radeon RX 7600 graphics card features 32 compute units, a game clock of 2250 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz, as well as 8 GB of GDDR6 memory running across a 128-bit bus at up to 18 Gbps. It also offers the latest features and capabilities, including the AMD Radiance Display Engine, full AV1 encoding and more to power high-performance 1080p gaming, streaming and content creation applications.

Kioxia Corporation, a world leader in memory solutions, today announced new consumer SSDs scheduled to be released in the third quarter of 2023. The EXCERIA PLUS G3 Series will leverage PCIe 4.0 technology and offer up to 2 terabytes (TB) of capacity. The new series is well-suited to mainstream users of high performance gaming PCs, desktops and notebooks, bringing the speed and affordability that they require. The EXCERIA PLUS G3 Series, which is a product under development, will be on reference exhibit at COMPUTEX TAIPEI from May 30 to June 2 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.

Featuring Kioxia's BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory TLC (Triple-Level-Cell), the EXCERIA PLUS G3 Series utilizes an M.2 2280 type single-sided form factor suitable for both desktops and mobile systems. The new drives will also support Kioxia's SSD Utility Management Software, which assists users with SSD monitoring and maintenance.

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced the addition of the BG6 Series to its lineup of PCIe 4.0 solid state drives (SSDs) - the first product to feature the company's new, 6th generation BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and almost 1.7 times the performance of its predecessor. Designed to unleash the increased speeds and affordability of PCIe 4.0 for PC users, the powerful and compact KIOXIA BG6 Series client SSDs offer a discrete M.2 2230 form factor with higher capacities and improved power efficiency. M.2 2280 single-sided form factor versions are also available.

The KIOXIA BG6 Series unlocks back-end flash performance while maintaining affordability and increasing capacity, making it an especially attractive option for commercial and consumer notebooks and desktops. KIOXIA BG6 drives support the fully matured Host Memory Buffer (HMB) technology, which utilizes part of the host memory (DRAM) as if it were its own, to realize a DRAM-less, high-performance SSD.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest H610MH D5 motherboard. Based on Intel H610 single-chip architecture, the H610MH D5 flawlessly supports 12th/13th Generation Intel Core processors thanks to BIOSTAR's globally renowned design and manufacturing prowess.

The H610MH D5 motherboard is versatile. Engineered to cater both business and leisure, this motherboard brings BIOSTAR's cutting-edge technology, including the energy-efficient A.I FAN, informative Debug LED, and high-performing Intel GbE LAN to transform mundane tasks like web browsing, sending emails, and running office applications into a seamless experience.

VisionTek Products LLC, a leading provider of high-performance upgrades and accessories for PCs and Macs, today unveiled its new lineup of M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) featuring exceptional speed, thermal management and durability. These next-generation form factor M.2 drives cater to demanding workloads and offer blazing fast read and write speeds up to 7,500 MB/s.

The DLX4 PCIe 4.0 SSDs feature a PCIe 4.0 interface for high-bandwidth, low-latency performance for the most demanding of workloads. The range includes 2230, 2242 and 2280 SSDs to support a variety of systems and devices. Capacities range from 500 GB to 4 TB, making the SSDs perfect for applications like 3D rendering, gaming and video editing.

KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced that its lineup of CD7 Series Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E3.S NVMe SSDs are first to ship on servers and storage from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The industry's first EDSFF drives designed with PCIe 5.0 technology, KIOXIA CD7 E3.S SSDs increase flash storage density per drive for optimized power efficiency and rack consolidation. HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers, HPE Alletra 4000 data storage servers and the HPE Synergy 480 Gen11 Compute Module are enabled with the latest PCIe 5.0 interface, enabling up to twice the performance over PCIe 4.0, and come with optionally equipped EDSFF E3.S drive bays.

As a natural evolution of the 2.5-inch form factor, EDSFF E3.S is designed for the needs of high performance flash storage. E3.S enables more dense, efficient deployments in the same rack unit compared to 2.5-inch drives, while improving cooling and thermal characteristics and raising capacities by up to 1.5 - 2x.

MSI is announcing the launch of our flagship PCIe 4.0 lineup to its SSD product line - SPATIUM M480 PRO series. MSI SSDs refine our company's identity as a high-performance PC brand by expanding our ecosystem and covering the high-performance storage category. These SSDs are built with high-quality, high-density 3D NAND flash that deliver the ultimate PRO performance for PCIe 4.0 with up to 7400 MB/s sequential read and 7000 sequential write.

The SPATIUM M480 PRO boasts up to 60% faster random read/write speeds, enabling a supremely responsive experience and minimal latency in gameplay and productivity under heavy workloads for professionals, content creators, and gamers. Other performance-improving technologies include DRAM cache buffer and an SLC cache.