Solidigm Stops Consumer SSD Business, Operations Ended Last Year

[bug]

I don't mind the controller so much.
But if a self-made controller is also a parameter...

Didn't but does now (?): WD/SanDisk.
Mixed: Crucial (only in P5?).
Does not: Kioxia, YMTC.

Yes, I believe that leaves only the new WD and Samsung.

 

[Vincero]

It's more interesting to see which companies have / had controller tech and haven't continued with it.

Kioxia will have inherited Toshiba and OCZ/Indilinx controllers, but seem to have let most of it fall by the wayside.

SK Hynix purchased Link-a-media (LAMD) and used it but am not aware of them carrying it on.

In theory, they both have the capability to do it all in house.

As for the others;
Seagate had Sandforce and LSI at some point and then just never bothered with them - in theory having all the expertise in house except for NAND fab production itself (but definitely the R&D capability).

It's kind of ironic that the of the original NAND flash controller manufacturers (who also did more than just SATA/NVM SSD drives, e.g. USB flash, etc.), Phison and SM seemed to survive as independents - ironically the two that never chased high performance back when the commercial SSD explosion circa-2010 kicked in.

Technically JMicron were also Toshiba linked but seemed to remain independent - they since spun the SSD controllers off to MaxioTech.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It's more interesting to see which companies have / had controller tech and haven't continued with it.

Kioxia will have inherited Toshiba and OCZ/Indilinx controllers, but seem to have let most of it fall by the wayside.

SK Hynix purchased Link-a-media (LAMD) and used it but am not aware of them carrying it on.

In theory, they both have the capability to do it all in house.

As for the others;
Seagate had Sandforce and LSI at some point and then just never bothered with them - in theory having all the expertise in house except for NAND fab production itself (but definitely the R&D capability).

It's kind of ironic that the of the original NAND flash controller manufacturers (who also did more than just SATA/NVM SSD drives, e.g. USB flash, etc.), Phison and SM seemed to survive as independents - ironically the two that never chased high performance back when the commercial SSD explosion circa-2010 kicked in.

Technically JMicron were also Toshiba linked but seemed to remain independent - they since spun the SSD controllers off to MaxioTech.

Realtek, which was a late comer, is still around, but they seem to struggle to get much traction.
Their roadmap from earlier this year, has PCIe 5.0 controllers on it though.

Realtek to Join the PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Controller Race

Currently, only Phison offers widely available performance PCIe 5.0 NVMe controllers for consumer SSDs, although the competition is heating up and Chinese SSD controller makers MaxioTek and InnoGrit, as well as Taiwanese Silicon Motion either have or will be releasing competing controllers this...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Nelly]

I wonder if the Solidigm Synergy Tool will continue to be updated in the future under SK Hynix? When Solidigm announced this modern looking tool, as daft as it seems it made me want to buy one of their NVMe's, it made me feel like Solidigm was putting some decent effort in, the only other modern looking tool is Samsung Magician, the other brands look like something you would use on Windows 3.1 lol.

Also to note, here in the UK, Solidigm had good distribution setup, it wasn't difficult to aquire one of their NVMe's from the well known retailers here, I guess with more or less having being already setup prior under Intel. SK Hynix on the other hand, I can only see them on sale via Amazon UK. SK Hynix seem an absolute shit show, and their SSD tool looks like something out the 1990s.

 

[nageme]

the only other modern looking tool is Samsung Magician

I consider "modern" (as in, what's nowadays called "modern" in UIs) to be a big disadvantage.
More than that, I wish things were just standardized, and a generic software would work for all features on all drives.

Like printers or scanners that work fine with just plain drivers, versus the full install including a huge ugly badly-designed partially-broken not-forward-OS-compatible piece of software.

 

[Vincero]

Realtek, which was a late comer, is still around, but they seem to struggle to get much traction.
Their roadmap from earlier this year, has PCIe 5.0 controllers on it though.

Realtek to Join the PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Controller Race

Currently, only Phison offers widely available performance PCIe 5.0 NVMe controllers for consumer SSDs, although the competition is heating up and Chinese SSD controller makers MaxioTek and InnoGrit, as well as Taiwanese Silicon Motion either have or will be releasing competing controllers this...

www.techpowerup.com

I have a Realtek powered SSD - Silicon Power PCIe 3.0 branded TLC NVMe drive... it's nothing special, but on the flip side it's not attrocious either, but definitely not a benchmark winner.

But Realtek don't have any presence in terms of NAND or DRAM.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I have a Realtek powered SSD - Silicon Power PCIe 3.0 branded TLC NVMe drive... it's nothing special, but on the flip side it's not attrocious either, but definitely not a benchmark winner.

But Realtek don't have any presence in terms of NAND or DRAM.

No, they don't, but as you mentioned the other two Taiwanese controller makers, I figured I'd mention their often forgotten third cousin