ADATA Technology, a manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, mobile accessories, gaming products, electric power trains, and industrial solutions, today announces the ADATA SE900G, one of the few external solid state drives (SSD) on the market that sports brilliant RGB lighting.

The ADATA SE900G is a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 external solid state drive that is an amalgamation of performance and brilliant style. The SE900G delivers excellent usability and performance with read and write speeds of up to 2000 MB/s. This makes the SE900G roughly twenty-five times faster than a standard external hard drive. For example, users can transfer a large 10 GB 4K HD movie file in just ten seconds.

Western Digital Corp. (Nasdaq: WDC) today reported fiscal second quarter 2021 financial results. "The team delivered solid results this quarter, especially as we continue adapting our business and technology portfolio to take advantage of the immense opportunities in the storage industry," said, David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO. "During the quarter, we captured strength in the retail business and also delivered on our target outcome to complete qualification of our energy-assisted hard drives and second-generation enterprise SSD products with some of the world's largest data center operators. While there is still more work to be done, we remain extremely focused on meeting the needs of our customers and ramping our next-generation products throughout calendar 2021."

In the fiscal second quarter of 2021, Western Digital's revenue decreased 7% year-over-year to $3.9 billion. The decrease is largely attributable to a decline in our Data Center Devices & Solutions end market, more than offsetting growth in Client Devices and Client Solutions.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the launch of three new CORSAIR Gen4 PCIe x4 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drives - the MP600 CORE, MP600 PRO, and MP600 PRO Hydro X Edition. All MP600 SSDs store massive amounts of data with lightning-fast transfer speeds, leveraging PCIe Gen4 technology for incredible, sustained performance.

The MP600 CORE offers up to 4,950MB/sec sequential read and 3,950MB/sec sequential write speeds, while the MP600 PRO and MP600 PRO Hydro X can achieve a blazing-fast 7,000MB/sec sequential read and 6,550MB/sec sequential write speeds[a]. The MP600 CORE is available now in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. The MP600 PRO is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities immediately with a 4TB model coming soon, while the MP600 PRO Hydro X Edition comes in a 2TB capacity, complete with an integrated CORSAIR Hydro X Series XM2 water block that connects your SSD seamlessly into your custom cooling loop. The XM2 water block is also available for purchase as a standalone product, compatible with many existing M.2 SSDs.

Newegg listings indicate Corsair is ready with the MP600 Core and MP600 PRO HydroX, which they state release later today. The MP600 Core is an M.2 NVMe SSD that's a cost-effective variant of the MP600 PRO. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the drive takes advantage of PCI-Express 4.0 x4, but unlike the MP600 PRO, uses QLC NAND flash memory. The drive uses the Phison PS5016-E16 controller just like the original MP600, but swaps out its TLC NAND flash for QLC. On offer, are sequential transfer rates of up to 4950 MB/s reads, and up to 3700 MB/s writes, up to 380,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 580,000 IOPS 4K random writes.

The MP600 PRO HydroX, on the other hand, is a premium variant of the MP600 PRO that comes with a factory-fitted water block that you connect to your DIY liquid cooling loop. It uses the same combination of the latest Phison PS5018-E18 controller with 3D TLC NAND flash, and offers the same on-paper performance, with up to 7000 MB/s sequential reads, up to 6550 MB/s sequential writes, up to 660,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 800,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The MP600 Core and MP600 PRO HydroX are expected to launch alongside the original MP600 PRO, later this week. Both the MP600 Core and MP600 PRO HydroX are listed on the international stores of Newegg, with the 2 TB MP600 PRO HydroX going for $459, and the 2 TB MP600 Core going for £286 (incl. VAT).

Phison Electronics Corp., a global leader in NAND Flash controller integrated circuits and storage solutions, announced today that it is now shipping secure SSD solutions with FIPS 140-2 Certification. In today's world, consumer and corporate data are vulnerable to attacks by hackers, viruses and even rogue governments staging cyber-attacks. Phison has recognized these security issues and addressed these threats by implementing FIPS 140-2 security technology in SATA and PCIe product lines.

Phison provided technical support for their customizable SSD solutions during the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) process. Companies have to pass it in order to list themselves as the validated cryptographic module vendor. Because Phison has FIPS 140-2 certified solutions, our customers can now choose to leverage existing validated Phison modules so they can reduce the time and effort spent on FIPS validation of their own.

The Corsair MP600 PRO Gen4 (CSSD-F1000GBMP600PRO) was recently spotted on Amazon Germany before being taken down. The MP600 PRO is the successors to Corsair's MP600 SSD featuring Phison's second-generation PCIe 4.0 PS5018-E18 SSD controller and boasting sequential read/write speeds of up to 7000 MB/s, and 6850 MB/s respectively. These are some very significant generational speed improvements over the already blazing fast advertised read/write speeds of the MP600 at 4950 MB/s and 4250 MB/s.

The drive is also listed as carrying a warranty of 3,600 TBW which is likely for the 2 TB model. These new second-generation PCIe 4.0 SSDs are nearing the limits of the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface which offers maximum speeds of ~8000 MB/s. It should also be noted that these performance improvements offer very limited practical benefits to the end-user in typical use-cases over a basic PCIe 3.0 NVMe drive. Pricing and availability for the drive were not published but we expect Corsair to officially announce the drive soon.

Samsung today has officially taken the lid off their latest consumer-oriented SATA SSDs, the 870 EVO. The 870 EVO series from Samsung don't push the maximum storage density ceiling on traditional SATA consumer drives, topping out at a maximum 4 TB, but they do achieve that ceiling whilst making use of Samsung's 128-layer TLC (Triple-Layer-Cell) NAND, which offers increased endurance (and higher theoretical performance than) more widespread QLC-based SSDs (of which Samsung launched the 870 QVO back in July 2020).

Samsung quotes SATA sequential read and write speeds of 560 MB/s and 530 MB/s respectively, with a "variable SLC" cache (which means it decreases in maximum size as the available free drive space decreases). The drives are also quoted at 98K IOPS Random Read, and 88K IOPS Write, and feature the company's Intelligent TurboWrite to maintain the interface's SATA 6 Gbps saturation as long as possible before sustained performance degradation appears. Samsung claims the 870 EVO also delivers a nearly 38% improvement in random read speeds over the previous 860 model, and quotes a (TBW) rating of 2,400 TB (or a 5-year limited warranty, whichever comes first) for its 4 TB model. The 870 EVO is available in either 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, or 4 TB capacities, with the drives' RAM buffer scaling almost accordingly (512 MB DDR3 for the 256/512 Gb models, 1 GB for the 1 TB, 2 GB for the 2 TB drive, and 4 GB for the 4 TB one. Pricing starts at $49,99 for the 256 GB model; 500 GB for $79.99, 1 TB for $139.99; 2 TB for $269.99; and 4 TB for $529.99.

Gigabyte Technology, one of the top global manufacturers of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announces today the latest AORUS Gen4 7000s SSD with up to 7 GB/s read speed. Enhanced by the new generation PCIe 4.0 controller with advanced 3D-TLC NAND Flash, it boosts up to 55% more performance than previous generation PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. AORUS Gen4 7000s SSDs come in two capacity variants, 2 TB and 1 TB with M.2 2280 interface to make installation easy. They equip big aluminium thermal interface in different sizes and double side thermal pad with Nanocarbon coating for improved heat dissipation. Meanwhile, the SSD Tool Box application provides the instant overview and adjustment of SSD status.

"The storage devices are taking advantage of the PCIe 4.0 transfer speed that raised from 5 GB/s to almost 8 GB/s, which is great news for users who expect to optimize storage performance and reduce the bottle neck of system operation." said Jackson Hsu, Director of the GIGABYTE Channel Solutions Product Development Division. "AORUS Gen4 7000s SSDs further advance the standards set by our previous SSD products to provide users with breakthrough performance. After the OS installed, uses can enjoy unprecedented 7 GB/s read speed with 1 TB or 2 TB storage capability. The thermal solution and the double-sided thermal pad are designed to slow down the throttling that might occur at high-speed operation of SSD, thus boost the system performance."

Intel has quietly announced the discontinuation of all Optane Memory SSDs for the consumer market. The company also confirmed that going forward they had no plans to release any new consumer Optane-Only SDDs. The Intel Optane Memory M10, 800P, 900P, and 905P series SSDs have now all been discontinued with final shipments going out next month. Intel has directed users to look at their Optane Memory H20 with Solid State Storage as a potential replacement, the H20 is a QLC M.2 SSD with 32 GB of Optane memory offered in 1 TB and 2 TB configurations. If you are looking to purchase an Intel Optane-Only SSD you will have to act quickly as once stocks run out they won't be returning.

BIWIN announced its own retail channel brand of memory products in the North American region, named Biwintech. BIWIN is a Shenzhen-based OEM of DRAM and NAND flash client-segment memory products that supplies to giants in the PC industry, such as HP. It is now bringing a sizable portfolio of memory products under its own Biwintech brand to the market, which include DDR4 UDIMM and SO-DIMM PC memory modules, M.2 NVMe SSDs, 2.5-inch SATA SSDs, USB portable SSDs; and memory cards, including SDXC and microSDXC cards, CFast cards, and CFexpress cards. Interestingly, the announcement doesn't mention UFDs (USB flash drives). Biwintech will go to market with 5-year warranties on all its products, including 9 to 5 phone- and 24-hour e-mail tech support.

MSI, a world leader in gaming hardware and computing solutions, unveils an innovative lineup of gaming, creator and business products at its virtual launch event, "MSI Premiere 2021: Tech For the Future". A powerful MSI Dragon G opened the "MSI Premiere 2021: Tech For the Future" show, followed by a helicopter that flew over the sea and revealed MSI RTX 30 SEA HAWK.

MSI SEA HAWK is the product of a revolutionary design with proven technology — which just got faster with an upgrade to the GeForce RTX 30 Series. The combined advantages of both air and liquid cooling come together with dedicated fan cooling and an all-in-one closed-loop liquid cooling solution that is efficient, silent and requires absolutely no maintenance.

Tech innovator GELID Solutions unveils the latest cooling kit for the M.2 Type 2280 Solid State Drives. The GLINT is a product of GELID Solutions GAMER product line. The GLINT is crafted to cool your M.2 SSD efficiently and boost drive performance. It helps maintain temperatures within the normal range under any workload or usage scenario, enhances data integrity and prevents thermal throttling from activation. The GLINT uses the slim aluminium heatsink and the specially crafted thermal pads to improve cooling and maintain significantly lowered operating temperatures for memory ICs and other electronic components of the M.2 Type SSD.

The heatsink is also secured by the bottom cover and 4 mounting screws for safe handling and better heat dissipation. Additionally, the GLINT is complemented by the ARGB Module boasting 5 ultra-bright LEDs and supporting all major motherboards: ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI or ASRock. You can easily create and sync vivid lighting effects via your favorite RGB software or program the LEDs via an external ARGB controller. The GLINT features quick installation and fits all standard M.2 Type 2280 SSD in desktop applications.

Apacer, a leading manufacturer of digital storage, recently launched its new generation of SSDs - the AS340X and AS350X. The "X" in the name stands for exploration, since the product is exploring previously unknown speed limits. The AS340X and AS350X use a cutting-edge SATA III transmission interface, giving the AS340X read/write speeds of up to 550/520 MB/s and the AS350X read/write speeds of up to 560/540 MB/s. The excellent performance brings users a lightning-fast boot-ups experience.

The AS340X and AS350X are Apacer's latest mid-to-high-end SSDs. They use a new generation of SATA III interface and provide 6 Gb/s transmission speeds, enabling the AS340X to reach read/write speeds of up to 550/520 MB/s and the AS350X read/write speeds of up to 560/540 MB/s. The blisteringly fast speed of AS340X and AS350X means that gamers and consumers demanding excellent price/performance ratios need look no further.

PNY announces the launch of XLR8 CS3140 M.2 NVMe Gen4 x4 Solid State Drive, the "CS3140", delivering speeds never seen before. PNY's quest to continuously deliver cutting-edge technology for the most demanding applications has led to the development of the company's fastest M.2 NVMe SSD yet. The CS3140 sets new standards that enable 4K and 8K content creators, high-intensive application users, gamers, and others to experience a whole new level of speed, performance, and productivity.

Optimized for the latest NVMe Gen 4.0 protocol, which continues to gain adoption from motherboard manufacturers and users, the CS3140 delivers outstanding sequential speeds of up to 7,500 MB/s read and up to 6,850 MB/s write speeds, redefining possibilities and paving the road to a whole new world of content creation, gaming, and so much more.

OWC, the premier zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company, and a respected provider of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions, and performance upgrade kits announces the new OWC ThunderboltTM Dock for Mac and PC. The OWC Thunderbolt Dock massively expands the functionality of the latest Intel 11th Gen Core and Evo PCs with Thunderbolt 4, as well as expanding the functionality of the new M1 Macs and Thunderbolt 3 equipped Macs once they are upgraded to the new Apple MacOS 11 'BigSur'. Connect more, display more, and charge more with this new Thunderbolt solution. The OWC Thunderbolt Dock joins OWC's award-winning and Thunderbolt certified line of docking solutions for Mac and PC like the Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock, Thunderbolt 3 14-port Dock, and Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock.

With the OWC Thunderbolt Dock you can now have four Thunderbolt ports, plus four USB ports, as well as a port for your SD Card, Gigabit Ethernet, and a combo audio in/out. You gain convenient access for all of your essential Thunderbolt and USB devices all through a single cable to your Mac or PC. Utilizing the latest Thunderbolt technology, the OWC Thunderbolt Dock enables users with Intel 11th Gen Core and Evo PCs with Thunderbolt 4, existing Macs or new M1 based Macs to add a mix of ports, including additional Thunderbolt ports. OWC Thunderbolt 3 docks without the Thunderbolt hub are compatible with OS 10.12 or later. Our Thunderbolt 4 based docks will continue to work great with our existing Thunderbolt 3 solutions such as storage, adapters, and more.

OWC, the premier zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company, and a respected provider of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions, and performance upgrade kits announces the OWC U2 Shuttle as the world's first U.2 carrier shuttle for 3.5" drive bays that combines four NVMe M.2 SSDs. It offers video editors, audio producers, photographers, and graphic designers everything they've always wanted in a multiple blade SSD: blistering speed, massive capacity, RAID-ready flexibility, and swappable convenience. The OWC U2 Shuttle can be used with U.2 port-equipped PCs and servers, as well as OWC storage and PCIe expansion solutions.

With four NVMe SSDs the OWC U2 Shuttle gives you more RAID options than a dual drive enclosure or adapter card. Now you can harness the power of RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, or 10 via your choice of hardware cards or RAID utilities including SoftRAID, the easiest to use, most fully featured software RAID package available. This powerful and intuitive software RAID utility offers maximum volume capacity, optimum drive performance, data protection, or a combination of attributes.

Western Digital Corp. today announced it's now delivering 4 TB portable SSDs across its consumer brand portfolio. Giving consumers and professionals more space to create, the new drives are built to keep up with today's high-quality content demands. The four drives now offer gamers, content creators, enthusiasts and creative professionals the performance, durability and greater capacity they need to capture, move and save their files.

"This milestone allows us to deliver a new era of solutions with the capacity and performance our customers have been asking for. Our consumer brand products are used by millions of professionals and consumers around the world, and we continue to drive technology forward to deliver the performance, reliability and leading products they demand," said Jim Welsh, senior vice president and general manager of Consumer Solutions Products, Western Digital.

OWC, the premier zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company, and a respected provider of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions, and performance upgrade kits announces the OWC Envoy Pro FX universal compatible Thunderbolt and USB Portable SSD. By supporting the max performance capability of any interface up to 2800 MB/s and built like a tank with dust/drop/waterproof certification, you can transfer gigabytes of data in seconds anywhere.

The OWC Envoy Pro FX is ideal for everyone and every need for Mac and PC compatibility spanning back to 2010. Fast, tough, Bus-powered (no AC adapter needed) portability. That's a lot of features boxes checked off. The OWC Envoy Pro FX then goes to the next level by being the ideal drive for various uses and ranging from photography, video, and document storage backups to a secondary/portable OS boot drive. The perfect on-set project drive for editing dailies, multi-angled camera shots, utilizing large sample libraries within audio projects, or portable Steam games library.

Yesterday, we have reported that ASUS is officially increasing the prices of their graphics cards and motherboards, due to increased component and logistics costs. What the company meant by that was not exactly clear to everyone, as it looked like the company has adjusted to the current market prices exceeding the MSRP of components like graphics cards. The GPUs are today selling at much higher prices compared to the original MSRP and it is representing a real problem for consumers. Today, we get to see what is the underlying problem behind the announcement we saw yesterday and if we are going to see more of that in the close future.

According to the New York Times, the Chinese import tariff exemptions have expired with the arrival of a new year (2021) and we can expect the tariffs to start from 7.5%-25%, which will massively increase component costs. A Reddit user has noted that MSRP will increase about $80 for every major GPU manufacturer like ASUS, GIGABYTE, PNY, Zotac, etc. so we are expecting MSRP adjustment from other companies to follow just like ASUS did. The import tariff exemptions are also supposed to increase MSRPs of other PC components like motherboards, SSDs, PSUs, cases... everything without exemption. As a product of a trade war between China and the Trump administration, it remains a question will these tariffs get easier shortly, so consumers can afford their desired components.

ADATA Technology, a manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, mobile accessories, gaming products, electric power trains, and industrial solutions, plans to release next-generation SD Express cards by Q2 of 2021.

With the rise of social media influencers, user-generated content, and the deployment of 5G networks worldwide, content creators and others seek high-capacity, high-performance, and portable memory products to meet their needs. To this end, the SD Association (SDA) released SD7.0, which introduced two major new functions, which include the incorporation of the PCIe and NVMe interfaces into SD memory cards for a significant upgrade in read/write speeds. These new SD cards will be known as SD Express cards. ADATA will be launching a new SD Express memory card by Q2 of 2021.

Samsung is reportedly readying the 870 EVO line of SATA SSDs, with the drives succeeding the 860 EVO series. While there's no word on the type of NAND flash chips used with these drives, it's very likely that they feature a new generation 3D TLC (3 bits per cell) NAND flash memory, as QLC (4 bits per cell) has been marketed by Samsung under the 870 QVO series, which the company launched back in July 2020. The new-gen 3D TLC NAND could enable the 870 EVO drives to reach capacities as high as 4 TB, and offer slightly higher sequential transfer rates, with WinFuture.de reporting up to 560 MB/s sequential reads, and up to 530 MB/s writes, compared to 550/520 MB/s for the 860 EVO series. Being based on TLC (3 bpc) should also give these drives higher write endurance than the 870 QVO series.

Advances in technology have seen the emergence of two major development trends for storage products. On the one hand, there are more products types than ever, with diversity being the clear trend. On the other hand, the speed of product upgrades is also picking up, indicating that there will be rigorous demands for storage enterprises in the near future.

The FORESEE P800 is the latest flagship product of FORESEE, Longsys' embedded storage brand. It supports the current mainstream NVMe 1.3 protocol, provides M.2 2280 specifications, and meets PCIe Gen3 x4 standards. It utilizes both a Marvell 28 nm DRAM-base master control and original 3D TLC chips. In terms of performance, the P800 supports L1.2 low power consumption to help terminal devices lower power consumption and increase battery life. The P800's temperature control algorithm balances speed and temperature during operation. It is available in 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB capacities to meet the diverse needs of various terminals, and is suitable for high-performance notebooks and desktops.

In the upstream semiconductor industry, the major foundries such as TSMC and UMC are reporting fully loaded capacities, while in the downstream, the available production capacity for OSAT is also lacking, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Given this situation, suppliers of NAND Flash controller ICs such as Phison and Silicon Motion are now unable to meet upside demand from their clients. Not only have many controller IC suppliers temporarily stopped offering quotes for new orders, but they are also even considering raising prices soon because the negotiations between NAND Flash suppliers and module houses over 1Q21 contracts are now at the critical juncture. The potential increases in prices of controller ICs from outsourced suppliers (IC design houses) are currently estimated to be the range of 15-20%.

With regards to the demand side, demand has risen significantly for eMMC solutions with medium- and low-density specifications (i.e., 64 GB and lower), for which NAND Flash suppliers have mostly stopped updating the NAND Flash process technology, while maintaining support with the legacy 2D NAND or the 64L 3D NAND process. This is on account of strong sales for Chromebook devices and TVs. As older processes gradually account for a lowering portion of bit output proportions from NAND Flash suppliers, these companies are exhibiting a lowered willingness to directly supply such eMMC products to clients. As a result, clients now need to turn to memory module houses, which are able to source NAND Flash components and controllers, to procure eMMC products in substantial quantities.

XPG, a fast-growing provider of systems, components, and peripherals for Gamers, Esports Pros, and Tech Enthusiasts, today announces the XPG SPECTRIX S20G PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 solid state drive (SSD). The SPECTRIX S20G is an SSD built with form and performance in mind with its distinct x-shaped RBG lighting and excellent read/write speeds.

The XPG SPECTRIX S20G is a gaming SSD through and through and its styling reflects this. It sports a distinctive and prominent x-shaped RGB design that outshines the competition. The RGB light effects can be customized via software. What's more, a hairline-brushed finish gives the SSD a formidable yet elegant look that will intimidate and impress.

SilverStone today introduced the MS12, an external SSD enclosure designed for M.2-2280 SSDs with PCIe/NVMe interface. The enclosure features a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface, which it converts to USB 3.2x2 (20 Gbps), put out from a USB-C connector, with a single handling both power and host-connectivity. The enclosure features an aluminium body which doubles up as a heatsink for the enclosed SSD. An ASMedia ASM23364 bridge chip is in-charge of things under the hood, and is capable of transfer speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s. The enclosure measures 106.5 mm x 33.3 mm x 15.3 mm (WxDxH), weighing about 53 g. A 30 cm USB-C cable, and thermal pad comes included. The company didn't mention pricing.