Samsung Electronics has announced the start of mass production of its fastest solid-state drive (SSD) to date, the PM9E1, an M.2 NVMe SSD with a PCIe 5.0 interface with up to 14.5 GB/s sequential read and 13 GB/s sequential write speeds. Powered by Samsung's own 8th generation V-NAND flash memory technology and a 5nm-based controller, the next-generation SSD is available in four different storage capacities: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB.
The PM9E1 SSD achieves a sequential read speed of 14.5GB/s and a sequential write speed of 13GB/s, which is more than double the 7 GB/s read and 5.2 GB/s write speeds of its predecessor, the PM9A1. In addition, the PM9E1's endurance rating (TBW, i.e., the amount of writes written over its lifetime) has also doubled to 2400 TBW, compared to the PM9A1's 1200 TBW, which should make it a fairly reliable long-term storage drive.
"Our PM9E1 integrates a 5nm master to deliver industry-leading energy efficiency and the highest performance, which has been proven by our key partners," said Bae Yong-Cheol, Executive Vice President, Storage Product Planning at Samsung Electronics. In the era of rapid development of on-device AI, Samsung's PM9E1 will lay a solid foundation for global customers to effectively plan their AI product portfolios. "This SSD is designed to target both the consumer and enterprise markets, but much of the official rhetoric seems to be more geared towards enterprise needs, especially in the AI space.
Figure: Samsung begins mass production of its fastest SSD to date
The power efficiency of the PM9E1 is also more than 50% higher than that of the previous generation, which is very helpful for extending the battery life of mobile devices, especially for applications that require on-device AI processing. In addition, PM9E1 supports SPDM v1.2 security technology, which helps prevent supply chain attacks on stored data during production or distribution.
Samsung plans to ship PM9E1 SSD products to PC manufacturers around the world, and expects to launch consumer products based on the PCIe 5.0 specification in the future. The launch of this SSD not only demonstrates Samsung's leadership in the field of storage technology, but also provides strong support for high-end applications that require high-speed data processing and storage, such as AI, machine learning, and big data analytics. As Samsung brings these advanced SSDs to market, we can expect them to revolutionize future computing and storage needs.
In addition, Samsung Electronics has recently made significant achievements in a number of areas, including the launch of the new generation of Galaxy Z Fold5 and Z Flip5 folding screen smartphones, optimizing the gaming performance of the Galaxy S23 series, introducing eco-friendly materials to the Galaxy S series phones, expanding the partner network, and winning 75 awards at the 2024 iF Design Awards. In addition, Samsung unveiled a new environmental strategy committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions and showcased its innovations in the semiconductor field at Samsung Tech Day. In terms of social responsibility, Samsung highlighted its commitment and efforts in the areas of security, privacy protection, diversity and inclusion and sustainability by publishing a social responsibility report in China.
