Phison Electronics, a leading innovator in NAND flash technologies has partnered with Lonestar, a leader in lunar infrastructure and Resiliency as a Service (RaaS), to support today's successful lunar mission launch, Lonestar's Freedom Mission. The Freedom payload utilizes SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and is set to reach the lunar surface on March 4th, commencing a new journey as Earth's ultimate data processing, backup and recovery solution to store mission-critical knowledge for humanity.

The novel ability to safeguard data on the Moon continues to spike interest for global governments, NGOs and enterprises as it provides an additional layer of fortitude against natural disasters and unpredictable impacts to crucial data. With a shared vision of unparalleled resiliency in data storage, Phison and Lonestar collaborated to ensure the Freedom mission moves beyond technical innovation alone to unlock the future of interplanetary operations. The strategic mix of Freedom's 3D-printed exterior, provided to Lonestar by SpaceBilt and designed by visionary architects Bjarke Ingels and Martin Voelkle of BIG, alongside the Phison Pascari portfolio's durability in extreme conditions proves optimal for the unforgiving environment in space. With unique solar-power sourcing and natural cooling capabilities, Freedom's state-of-the-art lunar data center design is poised to maintain peak operational performance with minimal resource dependency.

The Polish industrial memory manufacturer will once again be showcasing its product range at Embedded World, which takes place in Nuremberg, Germany, from 11 to 13 March. The company will be showcasing its latest solutions for industrial, defense, data center and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Goodram Industrial offers DRAM modules, SSDs and Flash memory for use in demanding industrial environments. Manufacturing in Poland, full memory testing and an in-house R&D department underpin product quality. Goodram Industrial memory is characterized by reliability, long life and resistance to extreme operating conditions. The range includes customized solutions for automation, robotics, transportation, medical, security systems, energy and telecommunications.

This year's launches include DDR5 CUDIMM/CSODIMM memory modules. These offer not only high capacity but also increased speed and stability of operation. Another interesting innovation is a microSD card with pSLC-Boost technology, which offers up to 100,000 program/erase cycles, far exceeding the standard parameters.

ADLINK Technology Inc., a global leader in edge computing, unveiled its new "DLAP Supreme Series", an edge generative AI platform. By integrating Phison's innovative aiDAPTIV+ AI solution, this series overcomes memory limitations in edge generative AI applications, significantly enhancing AI computing capabilities on edge devices. Without increasing high hardware costs, the DLAP Supreme series achieves notable AI performance improvements, helping enterprises reduce the cost barriers of AI deployment and accelerating the adoption of generative AI across various industries, especially in edge computing.

Lower AI Computing Costs and Significantly Improved Performance
As generative AI continues to penetrate various industries, many edge devices encounter performance bottlenecks due to insufficient DRAM capacity when executing large language models, affecting model operations and even causing issues such as inadequate token length. The DLAP Supreme series, leveraging aiDAPTIV+ technology, effectively overcomes these limitations and significantly enhances computing performance. Additionally, it supports edge devices in conducting generative language model training, enabling them with AI model training capabilities and improving their autonomous learning and adaptability.

At CES 2025, we found the SSD controller that will spur high-end NVMe Gen 5 SSD adoption. Until now, high-end Gen 5 SSDs were driven by Phison's E26 series controller that the company built on TSMC's 12 nm process. The company on Monday launched the new E28 series controller (full name PS5028-E28). This chip is built on the much more advanced TSMC 6 nm process. The new process lets Phison to significantly lower the electrical cost of its NAND flash interface serializer-deserializer, and step up performance closer to the interface limits of PCI-Express 5.0 x4. The controller offers sequential speeds of up to 14.5 GB/s, which is an increase from last year's E26 Max14um variant.

The company showed us the bare E28 controller chip, and a reference-design SSD based on it. Not much to report, except that the drive lacked any cooling solution. Production SSDs powered by the E28 will still need heatsinks to achieve optimal performance, although they won't run as hot as drives powered by the E26. The company didn't have any performance demo stations set up with this drive.

Kioxia today introduced the Exceria Plus G4, a mid-range M.2 NVMe Gen 5 SSD. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the drive takes advantage of the PCI-Express 5.0 x4 host interface, and comes in capacities of 1 TB and 2 TB. Both models offer sequential read speeds of up to 10,000 MB/s, but while the 1 TB model offers up to 7,900 MB/s sequential writes, the 2 TB model does up to 8,200 MB/s. 4K random access performance for both models are listed at up to 1.3 million IOPS reads, with up to 1.4 million IOPS writes. The 1 TB model endures up to 600 TBW of writes, while the 2 TB model is double that, at 1,200 TBW. Under the hood, the Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 appears to combine a Phison E31T series DRAMless NVMe Gen 5 controller, with Kioxia 218-layer BiCS flash memory. The company is backing the drive with 5-year product warranty. It didn't reveal pricing information.

Phison Electronics, a leading innovator in NAND Flash technologies, today announced the newest addition and highest available capacity of the Pascari D-Series data center-optimized SSDs to be showcased at SC24. The Pascari D205V drive is the first PCIe Gen 5 128 TB data center class SSD available for preorder to address shifting storage demands across use cases including AI, media and entertainment (M&E), research and beyond. In a single drive the Pascari D205V offers 122.88 TB of storage, creating a four-to-one capacity advantage over traditional cold storage hard drives while shrinking both physical footprint and OPEX costs.

While the exponential data-deluge continues to strain data center infrastructure, organizations face a tipping point to maximize investment while remaining conscious of footprint, cost efficiency and power consumption. The Pascari D205V read-intensive SSD combines Phison's industry-leading X2 controller and the latest 2 Tb 3D QLC technology engineered to enable unequaled 14,600 MB/s sequential read and 3,000K IOPS random read performance. By doubling both the read speeds against Gen 4 as well as the capacity against the 61.44 TB enterprise SSDs currently available on the market today, the Pascari D205V allows customers to upgrade to larger datasets per server, top-tier capacity-per-watt utilization and unparalleled read performance.

Apacer today introduced the PE4430-R, a compact M.2 NVMe SSD in the M.2-2230 form-factor, which makes it suitable for handheld gaming consoles, such as the Steam Deck. The drive uses a graphene based heatspreader that's 0.17 mm-thick. It comes in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities, and appears to be based on a combination of a Phison E27T DRAMless controller, and a single 3D TLC NAND flash chip. It takes advantage of the PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, offering sequential transfer speeds of up to 5500 MB/s reads, with up to 5200 MB/s writes, with around 700,000 IOPS of 4K random reads, and around 880,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The Apacer PE4430-R comes with some impressive endurance figures, of 500 TBW for the 1 TB variant, and 1,000 TBW for the 2 TB. The company didn't reveal pricing information.

The first reviews of Silicon Motion's new PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD controller, the SM2508 are starting to appear online, and the good news is that the controller is as power efficient as promised by the company. Tom's hardware has put up their review of a reference design M.2 SSD from Silicon Motion and in their testing, equipped with 1 TB of Kioxia's 162-layer BiCS6 TLC NAND. It easily bests the competition when it comes to power efficiency. In their file copy test, it draws nearly two watts less than its nearest competitor and as much as three watts less than the most power hungry drive. It's still using about one watt more than the best PCIe 4.0 drives, but it goes to show that the production nodes matters, as the SM2508 is produced on a 6 nm node, compared to 12 nm for Phison's E26.

We should point out that the peak power consumption did go over nine watts, but only one of the Phison E26 drives managed to stay below 10 watts here. The most power hungry PCIe 5.0 SSD controller in the test, the InnoGrit IG5666 peaks at nearly 14 watts for comparison. Idle power consumption of the SM2508 is also very good, still drawing more than the PCIe 4.0 drives it was tested against, but far less than any of the other PCIe 5.0 drives. What about performance you ask? The reference drive places itself ahead of all the Phison E26 drives when it comes to sequential file transfers, regardless if it's to or from the drive. Random read IOPS also places right at the top, but it's somewhat behind when it comes to random writes, without being a slow drive by any means. Overall we're looking at a very promising new SSD controller from Silicon Motion with the SM2508 and TPU has also received a sample that is currently undergoing testing, so expect a review here soon.

HighPoint has unveiled the industry's first 16x M.2 Ports NVMe RAID AIC; the SSD7749M2. Featuring an unprecedented 16 independent M.2 device channels, and armed with HighPoint's proven PCIe Gen 4 Switch Architecture and NVMe cooling technology, SSD7749M2 RAID AICs are capable of delivering 28 GB/s of transfer throughput while supporting an astounding 128 TB of client-class NVMe storage; attributes that are particularly beneficial for AI driven workflows that require high-speed storage solutions capable of rapidly processing vast quantities of data. The compact, professional-grade PCIe AIC storage solution can be easily integrated into any x86 workstation or server platform capable of supporting modern dual-width GPUs, and is equipped with a comprehensive suite of management and monitoring tools designed to optimize and streamline the platforms NVMe storage ecosystem.

Advanced Architecture Maximizes Capacity and Performance
Innovative, dual-sided, vertically aligned M.2 loading trays can directly host up to sixteen 2280 form factor M.2 SSDs using only one side of the PCB. This unique architecture results in an impressively slim hardware footprint, with a form factor similar to that of a high-end dual-width GPU. The sixteen device channels can operate independently or concurrently, and enable the SSD7749M2 to support an astonishing 128 TB of M.2 storage, with the potential to scale up to 256 TB in the near future, all from a single PCIe slot!

Phison, a global leader in NAND controllers and storage solutions, is set to showcase its cutting-edge technologies at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) 2024. The event will highlight the new Pascari D-Series D200V, a datacenter SSD with up to 61.44 TB alongside the latest capabilities of aiDAPTIV+ Pro Suite, the company's end-to-end on-premises generative AI solution. Each solution is purpose-built to meet the demands of modern, data-intensive workloads, from small to medium-sized businesses looking to leverage GenAI through aiDAPTIV+, to enterprises scaling quickly with Pascari Data Center storage. These solutions allow users the necessary storage, scalability and processing power for data-hungry AI workloads.

The Pascari D200V is the latest addition to Phison's renowned D-Series product family. This SSD is designed for data centers and comes in the most popular form factors. "Pascari's new D200V scales to 61.44 TB today with Kioxia BiCS FLASH generation 8 QLC flash memory," says K.S. Pua, CEO of Phison Electronics. "The D-Series also allows room to scale beyond 100 TB, providing data centers with the large capacity options needed to reduce operating costs."

GIGABYTE today launched its flagship M.2 NVMe SSD, the AORUS Gen5 14000 series. The drive packs the winning combination of Phison PS5026-E26 Max14um controller, with Micron B58R 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory, along with a fast LPDDR4 DRAM cache. The drive comes in 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB capacity variants. The maximum speeds vary for the three.

The 2 TB model is the fastest of the three, with a sequential read speed of up to 14,500 MB/s, and sequential write speed of up to 12,700 MB/s. The 4 TB model is the second fastest, with up to 14,100 MB/s sequential reads, and up to 12,600 MB/s sequential writes. The 1 TB model is third, with up to 13,600 MB/s sequential reads, and up to 10,200 MB/s sequential writes. All three models come without a heatsink, with just a metal film label on top. GIGABYTE recommends pairing the drive with M.2 SSD cooling solutions included with your motherboard to minimize performance throttling. The company didn't announce pricing.

MSI also brought plenty of SSD products to the Computex 2024 show, including the new SPATIUM M560 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSD based on the Phison E31T controller and Kioxia's 218-layer BiCS 3D TLC NAND, the new SPATIUM non-metal Vapor Chamber SSD Thermal Solution, and a couple of SSD accessories, including the DATAMAG Magnetic Portable SSD and the DATAVAULT SSD Enclosure.

As said, the new SPATIUM M560 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSD will use the Phison 7 nm E31T controller paired up with Kioxia 8th generation 218-layer BiCS 3D TLC NAND and offer transfer rates of up to 10,000 MB/s. The controller, according to MSI, should bring up to a 15 percent reduction in power consumption as well as "maximize bandwidths and link efficiency". It will be available in 1 TB, and 2 TB capacities, and MSI will probably have a version that will include the new SPATIUM non-metal Vapor Chamber SSD Thermal Solution which has been also showcased at the Computex 2024 show. MSI says that this is yet another world's first, which uses "a two-phase flow transition of gas and liquid with minimal signal interference, ensuring rapid and silent heat exchange." According to MSI, the new SPATIUM non-metal Vapor Chamber SSD Thermal Solution should provide up to 11 degrees lower temperature compared to a standard aluminium heatsink.

As a global leader in NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions, Phison showcases a range of innovative storage products and AI solutions during Computex (June 4-7, 2024). The rising demand for generative AI applications aligns with Phison's growth in AI solutions under the aiDAPTIV+ and new Pro Suite products that address market trends and bring new technological experiences to the industry.

This year Computex 2024 is focusing on AI Computing, Advanced Connectivity, Future Mobility, Immersive Reality, Sustainability, and Innovations.

Phison is arguably the most popular brand for SSD controllers in the client segment, but is turning more of attention to the vast enterprise segment. The company had been making first-party enterprise SSDs under its main marquee, but decided that the lineup needed its own brand that enterprise customers could better discern from the controller ASIC main brand. We hence have Pascari and Imagin. Pascari is an entire product family of fully built enterprise SSDs from Phison. The company's existing first-party drives under the main brand will probably migrate to the Pascari catalog. Imagin, on the other hand, is a design service for large cloud and data-center customers, so they could develop bespoke tiered storage solutions at scale.

The Pascari line of enterprise SSDs are designed completely in-house by Phison, feature their latest controllers, firmware, PCB, PMIC, and on-device power-failure protection on select products. The third-party components here are the NAND flash and DRAM chips, which have both been thoroughly evaluated by Phison for the best performance, endurance, and reliability, at their enterprise SSD design facility in Broomfield, Colorado. Phison already had a constellation of industry partners and suppliers to go around with, and the company's drives even power space missions; but the Pascari brand better differentiates the fully-built SSD lineup from the ASIC make. Pascari makes its debut with the X200 series high-performance SSDs for high-access heat data. The drive leverages Phison's latest PCIe Gen 5 controller technology, the most optimized memory components, and availability in all contemporary server storage form-factors.

Sabrent today debuted the Rocket 4 line of DRAMless M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSDs. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, these drives take advantage of the PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, and provide sequential transfer speeds of up to 7.4 GB/s reads, with up to 6.4 GB/s writes. The drives also offer 4K random access performance of up to 1 million IOPS reads, and 0.95 million IOPS writes. For now, Sabrent is launching 1 TB and 2 TB capacity variants of the Rocket 4, but the company is preparing to launch a larger 4 TB variant soon.

The Sabrent Rocket 4 combines a Phison E27T series DRAMless controller with Kioxia 162-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory (also known as the BiCS 6). There's just a copper foil heat spreader to keep things cool. The 12 nm E27T doesn't run anywhere near as hot as the E18, so you can make do with the heatsink your motherboard includes, or run it the way it is. The 1 TB variant is priced at $99.99, and the 2 TB variant at $199.99. The company didn't reveal pricing of the unreleased 4 TB variant.

Phison Electronics, a leading provider of NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions, today announced a pivotal strategic collaboration with industry giant MediaTek to push forward innovations in generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI) computing and services, and meet demand for fine-tuning AI model computations across industries. Under the collaboration, Phison's cutting-edge AI computing service, aiDAPTIV+, will pair with MediaTek's premier generative AI service platform, MediaTek DaVinci, heralding a new epoch for AI computing and application services and accelerating the adoption of generative AI in everyday life.

MediaTek DaVinci is an advanced, open platform for generative AI services, built on the Generative AI Service Framework (GAISF). MediaTek DaVinci enables developers to build a variety of plugins for enterprise applications, fostering a vibrant ecosystem and enhancing the user experience. Phison's aiDAPTIV+ features a pioneering SSD-integrated AI computing architecture that breaks down large AI models for concurrent operation with SSDs. This approach significantly reduces infrastructure costs and boosts computational efficiency, enabling the training of substantial AI models with limited GPU and DRAM resources. aiDAPTIV+ has already demonstrated its effectiveness in the Industry 4.0 sector and is poised to accelerate AI transformation across various sectors, bolstering business competitiveness. Additionally, aiDAPTIV+ consumes less power than traditional AI server setups for the same AI model fine-tuning tasks and this aligns with the current trend of minimizing energy consumption and carbon footprint.

Phison Electronics, a leading provider of NAND controllers and storage solutions, today announced aiDAPTIV+ partnerships with ASUS, Gigabyte, MAINGEAR, and MediaTek. At GTC 2024, Phison and partners will demonstrate aiDAPTIV+, a hybrid hardware and software large language model (LLMs) fine-tune training solution that enables small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to process and retain local control of their sensitive machine learning (ML) data.

Foundational training of LLMs gives a broad understanding of language but aiDAPTIV+ enables the fine-tuning process that molds these models into specialized tools capable of understanding the topics that deliver precise results for your business needs. Commodity workstation hardware is enhanced with aiDAPTIV+ software, and first generation aiDAPTIVCache Series ai100 SSDs to enable larger training models than previously possible in a workstation form-factor.

MAINGEAR, a leading provider of high-performance custom PC systems, and Phison, a global leader in NAND controllers and storage solutions, today unveiled groundbreaking MAINGEAR PRO AI workstations with Phison's aiDAPTIV+ technology. Specifically engineered to democratize Large Language Model (LLM) development and training for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), these ultra-powerful workstations incorporate aiDAPTIV+ technology to deliver supercomputer LLM training capabilities at a fraction of the cost of traditional AI training servers.

As the demand for large-scale generative AI models continues to surge and their complexity increases, the potential for LLMs also expands. However, this rapid advancement in LLM AI technology has led to a notable boost in hardware requirements, making model training cost-prohibitive and inaccessible for many small to medium businesses.

Sabrent today announced its latest flagship M.2 NVMe SSD series, the Rocket 5. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the Sabrent Rocket 5 is sold as a bare drive, with an included fan-heatsink that you install if needed. This cooler comes with a tiny fins-stack, two copper heat pipes, and a 20 mm fan. At the heart of the drive is the new Phison PS5026-E26 Max14um controller, paired with Micron B58R 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory, and LPDDR4 based DRAM cache. The drive comes in 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB capacity variants.

The company didn't put out capacity-specific performance or endurance numbers, but mentioned sequential read speeds of up to 14 GB/s, as is characteristic of the Max14um controller variant; up to 12 GB/s sequential write speeds, up to 1.55 million IOPS 4K random reads, with up to 1.8 million IOPS 4K random writes. The Rocket 5 replaces the Rocket 4 Plus as Sabrent's flagship SSD. The 4 TB variant is listed at $730, the 2 TB variant at $340, and the 1 TB variant at $190.

With the advent of high-resolution video and surveillance systems, the demand for stable performance (Sustained Performance) and Power Loss Protection in SSD storage devices continues to rise among video recording equipment and surveillance system integrators. Therefore, Phison Electronics (8299TT), a leading provider of NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions, today announced the launch of specialized SSD storage solutions for video and surveillance systems, including the mid-high-range S12DI and the cost-effective S17T SSD solutions.

With the advent of high-resolution video and surveillance systems, the demand for stable performance (Sustained Performance) and Power Loss Protection in SSD storage devices continues to rise among video recording equipment and surveillance system integrators. Therefore, Phison Electronics (8299TT), a leading provider of NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions, today announced the launch of specialized SSD storage solutions for video and surveillance systems, including the mid-high-range S12DI and the cost-effective S17T SSD solutions.

Phison Electronics, a leading provider of NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions, today announced it has introduced a full range of UFS (Universal Flash Storage) controllers (PS8325, PS8327, PS8329, PS8361). Phison's new UFS solutions support entry-level, middle, premium and flagship smartphone devices to achieve maximum performance in mobile storage and enhance user experiences.

As smartphone devices require higher performance, the storage devices of many entry-level 5G models have transitioned from eMMC to UFS 2.2 storage, and even flagship models of 4G phones have begun adopting the UFS 2.2 specification. Compared to the half-duplex mode of eMMC, the full-duplex mode of UFS 2.2 significantly increases read speeds by three times, not only handling smartphone functions that require processing large amounts of data (such as high-resolution recording and video playback), but also consuming lower power under the same performance speed as eMMC. This helps improve the battery life of smartphones and tablets, meeting the high-performance and low-power consumption needs of mobile devices.

CORSAIR, a world leader in enthusiast components for gamers, creators, and PC builders, today announced the launch of the MP600 ELITE series of SSDs. The MP600 ELITE series is a lineup of high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSD available with a range of cooling options to ensure you get the most from your storage whether you're running a desktop PC, a laptop, or a Sony PlayStation 5 console.

Built using high-density 3D TLC NAND and available in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities at launch, with 4 TB models coming in April, the MP600 ELITE series offers impressive sequential read performance of up to 7,000 MB/sec and write performance of up to 6,500 MB/sec. This is bolstered by random read and write speeds of up to 1,000K and 1,200K IOPS respectively, making them ideal for gamers, creators, and hardware enthusiasts seeking impressive performance on a PCIe 4.0 platform. These SSDs are also backwards compatible with PCIe 3.0 systems.

You can check out our review: Corsair MP600 Elite 2 TB Review - The new Phison E27T Tested

The current crop of PCIe Gen 5 based M.2 NVMe SSDs run scorching hot to deliver sequential transfer speeds of 10 GB/s, requiring some massive cooling solutions with tiny fans. All this might change, as Phison, a leading SSD controller manufacturer, unveiled three new controllers at the 2024 International CES. One of these that stands out, is the PS5031-E31T, which is built on the 7 nm node, and could power the first Gen 5 SSDs delivering 10 GB/s without elaborate cooling solutions. This is a big upgrade from the 12 nm node used by their first Gen 5 controllers. The PS5031-E31T is a DRAMless controller meant for mainstream Gen 5 SSDs. This controller has a 4-channel flash interface (16 CE), a PCI-Express 5.0 x4 host interface, supports capacities of up to 8 TB, and is claimed by Phison to offer sequential transfer rates of up to 10.8 GB/s, and up to 1500K IOPS random access; exceeding the fastest Gen 4 SSDs.

Phison also updated its high-end controller lineup with the new PS5026-E26 Max14um. This is a variant of the E26 that's designed for the upcoming Micron B58R NAND flash chip that offers 2400 MT/s per channel transfers. Over the 8-channel interface of the E26, this finally unlocks sequential transfer speeds exceeding 14 GB/s reads, and 12.7 GB/s sequential writes. This is merely a revision of the existing E26 with updated power-optimized firmware, the underlying silicon is identical. The E26 Max14um is the first controller to surpass 1000 MB/s in all three PCMark 10 storage tests. We have a sample of an SSD powered by the E26 Max14um in our labs, and will post our review soon.

Patriot Memory brought their latest ware to the 2024 International CES that use recent advancements in tech on both the SSD and memory fronts. On the SSD front, this year sees 14 GB/s capable PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSDs thanks to Phison's E26 Max14um controller; and a new crop of USB4 portable SSDs; while the memory front sees DDR5 speeds go far north of DDR5-6000, thanks to on-module CKDs. Patriot showed us examples of each.

First up, there's the Patriot Viper PV573 Gen 5 NVMe SSD. This thing comes in capacities of up to 4 TB, and combines a Phison E26 Max14um controller with Micron's latest B58R TLC NAND flash chips that offer 2400 MT/s per flash channel. The controller also gets some incremental thermal optimizations, which means the cooling solution for the PV573 is a 16.5 mm-tall fan-heatsink. The drive offers up to 14 GB/s sequential reads, with up to 12 GB/s sequential writes. There's also a slightly de-rated version of this drive, the Viper PV553, which has the same combination of controller and NAND flash, but with transfer speeds of up to 12.4 GB/s reads, with up to 11.8 GB/s writes.

Plextor, one of the most iconic names in PC storage once known for high performance and quality, has announced it will cease operations. Parent company Kioxia has decided to retire the Plextor brand name for solid state drives (SSDs). Instead, it will market products under its Solid State Storage Technology Corporation (SSSTC) brand going forward. The move comes after Kioxia acquired Plextor and its parent company Lite-On's SSD business back in 2019. Since then, Plextor has struggled to keep pace with new storage technologies. With PCIe Gen 4 and PCIe Gen 5 SSD controllers coming to market, Plextor failed to adopt the new Phison and InnoGrit platforms, instead sticking with Marvell controllers, lagging behind at that time.

Now, SSSTC and Kioxia will strictly focus SSD sales on the enterprise, data center, and industrial segments rather than the consumer market. The Plextor website is already redirecting to SSSTC.com, which no longer lists any drives for client PCs. While current Plextor SSD owners will continue to receive warranty support and RMA services, no new Plextor drives are expected to be released. The company had a history stretching back over 30 years of making top-performing optical disk drives and SSDs. Similarly to OCZ after its acquisition by Toshiba, the Plextor name will now fade into history. But in the fast-moving storage business, companies live and die by their ability to adopt cutting-edge technologies. Hence, companies are always on the edge of their seats, trying to survive.