TrendForce reports that the recent easing of tight supply for components has led to rising shipments for enterprise servers. Furthermore, ODMs for the most part have been able to sustain the momentum of data center build-out with the demand from ByteDance and the tenders issued by Chinese telecom companies. Nevertheless, the performance of the enterprise SSD market on the whole has been impacted by falling NAND Flash prices. For 3Q22, the NAND Flash industry's enterprise SSD revenue dropped by 28.7% QoQ to US$5.22 billion. Furthermore, all enterprise SSD suppliers recorded a negative performance for the period as well.

Regarding individual enterprise SSD suppliers' revenue figures for 3Q22, Samsung posted around US$2.12 billion. Its market share also shrank to 40.6% from 44.5% in 2Q22. Samsung's performance was mainly dragged down by the decline in its NAND Flash ASP. In the aspect of product development, SSDs featuring 128L NAND Flash and PCIe 4.0 will remain Samsung's main offerings for enterprise storage during 2023.

SMART Modular Technologies, Inc. ("SMART"), a division of SGH and a global leader in memory solutions, solid-state drives and hybrid storage products announces that it is now offering a new class of high performance, power efficient, data center solid state disk drives (SSDs) beginning with the DC4800 PCIe Gen 4 family.

SMART's DC4800 devices are designed with a specialized hardware-accelerated SSD controller that draws less power without compromising storage input/output (I/O) performance. Zero-induced throttling allows these SSDs to perform better under continued duress, even when they are pushed to their performance limit. This translates to significant power consumption improvement per server, as well as consistent latency performance of up to 7-nines or 99.99999% of the time.

Synology today announced the new 4-bay Synology DiskStation DS923+, the latest in its Plus line of all-in-one storage devices for home office and small business users. Powered by the versatile Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system, the DS923+ delivers comprehensive solutions to protect and manage business data, easily collaborate on documents, access files remotely, and monitor physical assets, all within a compact desktop format. It offers consistent performance out of the box, with the option to easily upgrade networking and further boost data transfer speeds through network cards.

"The DS923+ provides users with impressive performance and capability for its size," said Michael Wang, Product Manager at Synology. "With the ability to easily scale the storage and networking, it adapts as your needs grow."

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, introduced new QM2 PCIe Gen 3 expansion cards: the QM2-2P-344A and QM2-2P-384A. QM2 cards can be installed in compatible QNAP NAS or Windows /Linux PCs/workstations to add M.2 NVMe SSD slots (M.2 SSD sold separately) for boosting system performance and increasing storage capacity.

"The QM2-2P-344A and QM2-2P-384A are a budget-friendly expansion solution for both QNAP NAS and PC/workstations, providing flexible M.2 NVMe SSD configuration with easy-to-use tool-free installation," said Andy Chuang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "Compared with SATA-based SSDs, the QM2's PCIe interface provides higher bandwidth to deliver faster transfer speed and data access."

Market intelligence firm TrendForce reports that the whole NAND Flash market was severely weakened by plummeting demand in 3Q22. Because shipments of end products including consumer electronics and servers had been below expectations, the overall NAND ASP fell by 18.3% QoQ. Furthermore, the general economic outlook remained pessimistic, so enterprises across many sectors started to scale back their capital expenditure plans and halted the momentum of their procurement activities. Due to this development, the problem of excess inventory eventually spread to NAND Flash suppliers. The pressure on suppliers to make sales was ratcheted up dramatically. According to TrendForce's investigation, NAND Flash bit shipments fell by 6.7% QoQ for 3Q22, and the overall NAND Flash ASP also kept sliding. On account of the unfavorable market situation, the NAND Flash industry recorded a total revenue of around US$13.71 billion for 3Q22. The QoQ revenue decline reached as much as 24.3%.

The ranking of NAND Flash suppliers by revenue saw two notable changes for 3Q22. First, SK Group moved down to third place as it suffered the largest revenue drop among suppliers. Its revenue slipped by 29.8% QoQ to US$2.54 billion mainly due to the significant deterioration of the demand for PCs and smartphones. Its subsidiary Solidigm was also affected by the slowdown in server procurements. Previously, servers had a fairly stable demand situation compared with other kinds of end products. However, server demand eventually buckled in 3Q22 as result of enterprises cutting capital expenditure and undergoing a period of inventory correction. Compared with 2Q22, SK Group (that encompasses SK hynix and Solidigm) posted a drop of 11.1% in bit shipments and an even steeper decline of more than 20% in ASP.

KLEVV, an emerging memory brand introduced by Essencore, is excited to announce three new consumer-grade M.2 NVMe SSDs, the CRAS C930, C910, and C730. The new CRAS M.2 NVMe SSD lineup aims to serve a wide range of users, enabling entry-level to top-tier enthusiasts with industry-leading storage technology. Both CRAS 930 and C910 come with an optional add-on heatsink for users to maximize their freedom in the setup.

With an impressive 1500 TBW endurance lifecycle and a significant emphasis on DRAM cache buffer, the CRAS C930 is built to withstand harsh workloads. Utilizing the latest PCIe Gen4 x4 interface supported by NVMe 1.4, it delivers break-neck sequential read/write speed of up to 7400/6800 MB/s at 2 TB max capacity and 4K random read/write up to 1000K IOPS. Exceptional engineering and design elements make the CRAS C930 the crown jewel of KLEVV's new M.2 NVMe SSD lineup, capable of running on PCs, Laptops, and even PS5 consoles. Additionally, the flat fin heatsink addon is a great inclusion with up to 20% temperature reduction, giving users complete flexibility in their choice.

Netac over the weekend released the NV5000-t, an M.2 NVMe SSD that takes advantage of the PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, offering mid-range performance. Available in 500 GB and 1 TB capacities, the drive uses an unspecified type of 3D NAND flash memory, and a DRAMless controller design. On offer, are sequential transfer rates of up to 4800 MB/s reads, with up to 4600 MB/s writes for the 1 TB variant. The 500 GB variant writes sequentially at speeds of up to 2700 MB/s, but with the same up to 4800 MB/s reads. The 1 TB variant offers endurance of 640 TBW, while the 500 GB variant does 320 TBW. Both models are backed by 5-year warranties. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Kingston FURY, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced the addition of Kingston FURY Renegade SSD with Heatsink, its second-generation PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 drive for console and PC gamers. Kingston FURY Renegade SSD with Heatsink maintains speed and temperature while delivering cutting-edge performance in high capacities using the latest Gen 4x4 controller.

By maximizing the available bandwidth of PCIe 4.0, Kingston FURY Renegade SSDs achieve speeds up to 7,300/7,000 MB/s read/write and up to 1,000,000 IOPS to deliver amazing consistency for an exceptional gaming experience. The drives are optimized to reduce game and application load times, stream and capture with ease and give your system an overall boost in responsiveness. Available in high capacities up to 4 TB, users can store an extensive library of their favorite games and media and still have space for the latest titles. Kingston FURY Renegade SSD offer two options for users both with formidable speeds and massive capacities:

Phison Electronics Corp., a global leader in NAND flash controller and storage solutions, today announced significant milestones in 2022 that were highlighted by key partnerships, product innovations and advancements, and overall technology leadership.

"Despite market challenges, Phison is proud to have successfully navigated 2022 with strong innovation and technology leadership, two hallmarks of our company," said K.S. Pua, Phison CEO. "As a forward-thinking company, we cannot wait to bring more SSD customizations, innovations, and solutions to our partners, and customers next year."

ASUS, a global technology leader renowned for continuously reimagining today's technologies for tomorrow, today announced ExpertBook B6 Flip (B6602F)—the first Expert-series flippable mobile workstation.

This high-performance mobile workstation with its versatile 360° hinge is designed specifically to help architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) companies running industry-leading software solutions like 3ds Max, MicroStation, and Vectorworks. With immense power packed in a slim and flippable form, ExpertBook B6 Flip handles complex workloads seamlessly across AEC disciplines. It helps users bring design concepts to life through BIM software like ArchiCAD, effortlessly transition from 2D sketches to 3D modelling and printing via tools like Creo and Solidworks, and handle data-intensive applications for deeper insights and better decision-making—delivering the edge that AEC companies need in today's competitive market.

Solidigm—the company that Intel sold its SSD business to—held a tech day last week where the company shared some details about its future roadmaps. The company appears to be focusing on 3D QLC NAND and its 192-layer product promises both larger drives, but also enhanced endurance for QLC NAND. For example, Solidigm's 30.72 TB SSD is promising a PBW of around 32 PB (Petabyte) endurance. This is using what the company calls QLC Essential Endurance NAND.

However, its QLC Value Endurance NAND is what will enable the 61.44 TB drive, which is said to offer around 65 PB write endurance, but it should be noted that this is at 16 KB aligned data or during other types of light data writes. Neither type of NAND is destined for consumer applications as of now, as Solidigm is only targeting E1, E3 and U.2 form factors. Regardless, this appears to be a huge step forward for 3D QLC NAND and Solidigm is hoping that its upcoming drives will be able to replace mechanical drives in the enterprise market space. On top of this, Solidigm also claims to offer better throughput and latency compared to its competitors, but we're still looking at SATA type level SSD performance for the IOPS. The first drives with the new 192-layer 3D QLC NAND are expected to be available sometime early next year.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of next-generation Intel and AMD motherboards have incited a wave of consumer PC replacement as well as growing demand for high-efficiency PCIe 4.0 SSDs. With additional consideration towards the PS5's SSD heat dissipation requirements, ADATA Technology Co., Ltd., a leading global memory products brand, has launched the LEGEND 960 MAX as of today. The LEGEND 960 MAX SSD has won Japan's GOOD DESIGN Award and features continuous read/write speeds of up to 7,400/6,800 MB per second. Its unique 3D radiator fin design can reduce temperatures of SSDs mounted in PS5 consoles by as much as 40%. The LEGEND 960 MAX and LEGEND 960 are part of the same series of SSD products and the prior LEGEND 960 model can be installed in Intel Evo certified lightweight notebooks. In the face of Web 3.0's unlimited creative universe, this new product is expected to become the most ideal storage solution for consumers.

The LEGEND 960 MAX employs a PCIe 4.0 transmission interface conforming to NVMe 1.4 standards. The SSD features exceptional 7,400/6,800 MB per second read/write capabiliies that are 4 times that of standard PCIe 3.0 SSDs and is backward compatible with the PCIe 3.0 platform. When handling a multitude of intensive creations, the LEGEND 960 MAX delivers 750K/630K IOPS random Read/Write speeds, improving multitasking efficiency and is suitable for driving exceptional performance in the latest Intel or AMD platforms. The professionally designed thermal convection effect produced by a 3D radiator fin profile enables an additional 40% cooling on motherboard installed SSDs and is an optimal solution for highly complex design tasks such as 3D animation, game development, and visual virtualization.

Acer is bidding to buy 11 million equity shares of Apacer, a major DRAM and NAND flash products manufacturer. The shares, valued at NTD 363 million, will make the Taiwanese prebuilt PC and notebooks giant an 8.97% shareholder of Apacer's stock. The announcement put out by Apacer also speaks of an enhancement of "strategic collaborations" between the two companies. This could only mean one thing—that Apacer becomes a supplier of DRAM and NAND flash products to Acer.

Acer sells a small but significant lineup of SSDs and PC memory products in the DIY retail channel. These products are sourced from BIWIN, an OEM of DRAM and NAND flash products. Will Apacer replace BIWIN as a supplier? We'll have to wait and see. Besides an OEM, Apacer sells its own-branded memory cards, USB flash drives, SSDs, and PC memory modules; besides holding the PC enthusiast brand ZADAK, which sells high-end SSDs and overclocking memory modules.

SI is announcing new gaming desktops under the Infinite Series. The MPG Infinite X2 strives to stand out from the crowd with its unique design. The 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K CPU and the latest NVIDIA graphics cards can deliver the best gaming experience.

The MPG Infinite X2 houses up to a 240 mm AIO liquid cooler and adopts MSI's exclusive Silent Storm Cooling 2 technology to lower system temperature. The MPG Infinite X2 supports the latest PCIe 5.0 for increased bandwidth. It comes with standardized parts and tool less designs for easy upgradability. The built-in high-speed Wi-Fi 6E and 2.5Gigabit LAN offer blazing-fast connectivity.

Corsair has quietly launched two new SSD SKUs, the MP600 PRO NH and the MP600 GS. Although the model names seem similar, the two models couldn't be more different. Both are PCIe 4.0 x4 drives and in both cases controllers from Phison are used, but beyond both using a black PCB, the common features end here. The MP600 PRO NH is based around the Phison E18 and delivers sequential read speeds of up to 7000 MB/s, with the write speeds peaking at 6500 MB/s, depending on the storage capacity and this is where things get really interesting. Corsair is offering the MP600 PRO NH in capacities of up to 8 TB, but the SKU with the overall best performance is the 4 TB SKU. Random write performance is said to be up to 1.2 million IOPS, with random read performance topping out around 1 million IOPS. For some reason Corsair is offering a 500 GB SKU as well, but it offers fairly poor performance compared to its larger siblings. All drives use 3 TLC NAND, so we're not looking at QLC drives here.

The MP600 GS on the other hand is based on the Phison E21T, which is a DRAM-less controller that targets the more affordable drive segment. Here we're looking at only two SKUs, 500 GB or 1 TB, with the 1 TB drive offering sequential read speeds of up to 4800 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 3900 MB/s. The random read speed hits 580k IOPS with the random write speeds reaching 800k IOPS. This drive is also using 3D TLC NAND. The MP600 GS costs US$57.99 for the 500 GB SKU and US$92.99 for the 1 TB SKU. The MP600 PRO NH starts at US$72.99 for the 500 GB SKU, followed by US$112.99 for 1 TB, US$212.99 for 2 TB, US$529.99 for 4 TB and finally a rather steep US$1,074.99 for the 8 TB SKU. Both models come with a five year warranty.

AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) today announced revenue for the third quarter of 2022 of $5.6 billion, gross margin of 42%, operating loss of $64 million, net income of $66 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.04. On a non-GAAP(*) basis, gross margin was 50%, operating income was $1.3 billion, net income was $1.1 billion and diluted earnings per share was $0.67.

"Third quarter results came in below our expectations due to the softening PC market and substantial inventory reduction actions across the PC supply chain," said AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. "Despite the challenging macro environment, we grew revenue 29% year-over-year driven by increased sales of our data center, embedded and game console products. We are confident that our leadership product portfolio, strong balance sheet, and ongoing growth opportunities in our data center and embedded businesses position us well to navigate the current market dynamics."

GIGABYTE Technology, one of the top global manufacturers of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announces today the latest PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD - AORUS Gen4 5000E which comes in two capacities of 500 GB and 1000 GB with 5000 MB/s read speed and 30% lower on overall power consumption. The AORUS Gen4 5000E has passed several comprehensive performance and stability tests to ensure users the most stable SSD with next-level performance.

"PCIe M.2 SSD dominates the present market with its advantages of small size and premium performance, making it the perfect choice for users to enhance storage performance, especially in the case of speedy PCIe 4.0 SSDs", said Jackson Hsu, Director of the GIGABYTE Channel Solutions Product Development Division. "Since the well-reputed PCIe 4.0 SSD first launched in 2019, GIGABYTE carries on with the belief in providing top-quality products to meet the needs of superior performance and ultra durability. AORUS Gen4 5000E SSD with 5000 MB/s read speed performs a key role in the improvement of storage performance."

Colorful Technology Company Limited, a professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards, all-in-one gaming and multimedia solutions, and high-performance storage, announces the new Battle-AX memory kits with support for the latest Intel platform, available in DDR4 and DDR5 memory modules. COLORFUL also launches two new CN Series NVMe SSDs in PCIe Gen4 and PCIe Gen3 interfaces. The new memory and storage products aim to provide builders upgrading to the newer mainstream system platforms as well as older generation systems with DDR4 memory and PCIe Gen 3 M.2 SSD slots.

The COLORFUL Battle-AX DDR5 and DDR4 memory is perfect for mainstream users that plan to upgrade to the latest Intel platforms. The Battle-AX DDR5 memory sports a black heatspreader while the Battle-AX DDR4 sports a white heatspreader. The Battle-AX DDR5 memory is available in 8 GB and 16 GB modules and frequencies of DDR5-4800 and DDR5-5200. The Battle-AX DDR4 memory is also available in 8 GB and 16 GB modules and frequencies of DDR4-3200 and DDR4-3600. The Battle-AX DDR5 memory supports Intel XMP 3.0 for quick and easy memory overclocking via the BIOS. The COLORFUL Battle-AX Series memory is covered with 3-year warranty.

NVMe SSDs with M.2 format have become standard PC equipment because they allow high transfer rates and extremely low access times and thus enable faster and more effective working or gaming on the PC. Due to their construction, however, M.2 NVMe SSDs are only able to deliver their maximum performance for a short time. The controller chip heats up quickly and starts to throttle the SSD's performance early. To ensure that the full performance of the memory can be used permanently, Alphacool is expanding its portfolio for M.2 NVMe 2280 SSD water coolers and now also offers a brass variant of the HDX Pro Water with MCX connectors.

The HDX Pro Water is a reasonable choice when there is little space in the PC case and optimal hose paths are difficult to achieve. With the help of the MCX 2x manifold and the 5/3 mm hose (both included), the SSD water cooler in the MCX version can be integrated easily as well as space-saving. The installation is uncomplicated. The MCX 2x distributor is integrated into the water circuit via two G1/4" connections with internal thread. Here it is recommended to use the connections from Alphacool's Eiszapfen series. In the 2nd step, the HDX Pro SSD water cooler is connected to the MCX 2x manifold via the 5/3 mm PVC hose.

Transcend, a leading brand in digital storage and multimedia products, has officially launched the advanced PCIe 4.0 M.2 solid-state drive (SSD) MTE250S. Featuring 3D NAND flash, an 8-channel controller, and DRAM cache, this SSD delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 7200/6500 MB/s (R/W) and ample capacity of up to 2 TB. Its ultra-thin graphene heatsink ensures stable performance during non-stop operation, and its proven performance will bring gamers, content creators, and software developers a fundamental boost, helping them excel in their fields.

Fully compliant with the latest NVMe 1.4 specifications, MTE250S comes in an M.2 2280 form factor with an 8-channel controller and a fast PCIe Gen4 x4 interface, unleashing sequential R/W speeds of up to 7200/6500 MB/s and 4K random R/W speeds reaching 530K IOPS. Video editors and gamers alike will benefit from its impressive speeds, reduced downtime, and ample capacity of up to 2 TB, all of which are necessary for tackling the most demanding tasks.

Minisforum has launched a new mini PC UM690 of its Venus Series. The new UM690 featuring AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, AMD Radeon 680M Integrated Graphics, DDR5 dual-channel memory, PCIe 4.0 SSD, and the most advanced USB4 Type-C port. It is also their first mini PC with AMD 6000 series CPU.

Ryzen 9 6900HX is one of AMD's most powerful Ryzen 6000 processors, features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a maximum turbo clock of 4.90 GHz with a default TDP targeted at 45 W. The integrated GPU, Radeon 680M, based on RDNA2 architecture, has 12 CUs up to 2.4 GHz. Thanks to liquid metal and smart fan in thermal design, UM690 can run at low noise even in full speed. UM690 supports total up to 64 GB dual-channel DDR5-4800 MHz memory, also different types of storage expansions—1×M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD and 1×2.5 inch SATA HDD Slot (SATA 3.0 6.0 Gb/s 7 mm).

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced TrendForce has named it as the number one third-party supplier of SSDs in the channel for all of 2021. According to TrendForce, Kingston accounted for a massive 26 percent of the 127 million units shipped in 2021.

Although the pandemic continued to disrupt the supply of SSD related components in 2021, shipments through global distribution channels saw an annual growth rate of 11%. While production demand increased, shipment volume was affected when wafer supply was too limited to meet order lead time. In response, Kingston adopted a limited supply strategy as product prices rose. These findings show through Kingston's global strategy for sourcing components, the company was well ahead of its competitors considering a global pandemic and chip shortage. The results reinforced Kingston as the clear leader in SSD production, as the second-place supplier accounted for only 8 percent of the total channel market. As a category, third-party suppliers (non-semiconductor) SSD makers accounted for 58% of the total shipments in 2021.

Furthering its mission to address future enterprise infrastructure requirements, KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced that it has expanded its broad portfolio of client, enterprise and data center SSDs with the addition of the XD7P Series. Designed for hyperscale and general server applications in the new Enterprise and Data Center Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E1.S form factor, XD7P drives are the second generation of E1.S SSDs with Open Compute Project (OCP) Data Center NVMe SSD 2.0 specification support from KIOXIA, following its XD6 series. KIOXIA XD7P drives are now sampling to select data center customers.

"Hyperscale needs of density, power, performance and serviceability are driving PCIe 5.0, E1.S, as a form factor, and the OCP Data Center NVMe SSD specification V2.0 for the data center," said Ross Stenfort, hardware storage engineer, Meta. "The KIOXIA XD7P Series SSD supports these storage technologies to enable the next generation of hyperscale needs."

Solidigm has introduced the P44 Pro solid-state storage drive (SSD), a high-performance client SSD for today's most demanding workloads. With blazing-fast speed and excellent power efficiency, the P44 Pro is the world's premier SSD for enthusiasts. The P44 Pro delivers spectacular PCIe Generation 4.0 performance, with up to 7,000 MB/s sequential read speeds. It provides a superb combination of speed and efficiency in Solidigm testing, meeting or exceeding published performance specifications while drawing just 5.3 W. The P44 Pro is available in 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB capacities.

"Our flagship client SSD, the P44 Pro, is built with our cutting-edge NAND technology. Combined with our powerful software, it delivers the high performance users require in demanding applications. The P44 Pro is the most powerful client SSD Solidigm has launched to date and the premier enthusiast SSD on the market," said Sanjay Talreja, General Manager, Client Storage Group. "This drive delivers quick launch and load, and the fast save desired by gaming enthusiasts and content creators. With excellent power efficiency, the P44 Pro minimizes throttling that can come from excessive power and heat - resulting in consistent peak performance."[Editor's note: Our in-depth review of the Solidigm Introduces the P44 Pro is now live]

Affected by tight wafer supply, lead time for SSD controller IC and PMIC components was prolonged to 32 weeks in 2021. All controller IC suppliers generally give priority to supplying NAND Flash manufacturers, so production at module factories could not meet SSD demand in the retail market during that time. In 2H21, the supply of SSD-related components improved quarter by quarter and various module manufacturers boosted their SSD shipments in order to upsurge their annual performance. According to TrendForce research, SSD shipments through global distribution channels reached 127 million units in 2021, with an annual growth rate of 11%.

This global SSD ranking is based on the shipment volume of module houses' own in-house brands in the distribution channel market as a standard for calculation and NAND Flash manufacturers are not included. NAND Flash manufacturer supply accounts for approximately 42% of the overall distribution channel market while module factory shipments account for approximately 58%. When SSD-related components were hard to come by, NAND manufacturers' supply chain management occupied a superior position compared to module houses, so NAND manufacturers' market share in the overall distribution channel market increased compared with 2020.