Sandisk has showcased a high-capacity 256TB NVMe enterprise SSD, a significant breakthrough in storage capacity, performance, and power efficiency. This achievement is made possible by Sandisk’s new enterprise-grade UltraQLC platform, which marks a substantial advancement in NAND architecture through a combination of BiCS8 QLC CBA NAND, custom controllers, and advanced system optimizations.
As the demands of AI workloads continue to evolve, the need for customizable flash storage solutions becomes increasingly critical. The new SANDISK 256TB NVMe SSD, built on the UltraQLC platform, is specifically designed for AI-driven, data-intensive workloads such as data ingest, preparation, and fast AI data lakes. It offers high-performance speeds and power efficiency, ultimately improving the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for high-capacity applications in hyperscale cloud environments.
“As we move into the next phase of the AI era, flash storage is becoming a critical enabler of intelligent, high-performance workloads,” said Khurram Ismail, Chief Product Officer at Sandisk. “Our UltraQLC platform is the culmination of years of work and learnings to build a flexible and robust architecture that achieves extraordinary capacities and maximum performance while maintaining efficiency. This enables us to further expand our portfolio to meet AI demands at scale and helps our customers move faster, process more and turn data into real innovation.”
The SANDISK UltraQLC 256TB NVMe SSD sets a new benchmark for hyperscale flash storage, purpose-built for the fast, intelligent data lakes that power AI at scale. It promises lower latency, higher bandwidth, and greater reliability, delivering the performance required for today’s most demanding AI workloads. Key innovations within the UltraQLC platform include:
- Direct Write QLC: Eliminates SLC buffering by enabling power-loss safe writes on the first pass.
- BiCS8 2Tb QLC die: Doubles storage density while maintaining compact die sizes.
- UltraQLC™ power optimization: Utilizes Dynamic Frequency Scaling for up to 10% higher performance for a given power level (projected).
- Scalable multi-core controller: Helps ensure high throughput and endurance at extreme capacities.
- Data Retention (DR) profile: Reduces DR recycles by up to 33 percent (projected), improving drive reliability, resilience, and continuous access to data while decreasing power consumption.
The SANDISK SN670 128TB NVMe SSD and SANDISK UltraQLC 256TB NVMe SSD, both in U.2 form factor, are slated for availability in the first half of 2026, with additional form factors to follow later in the year.
