Samsung·Hynix SSDs 'Login' to the Gaming Market

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[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have expanded the sales of their SSD (Solid State Drive) business, which had been focused on laptops, PCs, and data center server expansions, into the gaming market and other sectors.

According to the semiconductor industry and foreign media on the 17th, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are reportedly negotiating to supply their SSD products for Sony's "PlayStation 5" and Microsoft's "Xbox Series X."

SSD is a digital data storage device using NAND flash, which lacks mechanical components like motors essential in traditional HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), resulting in less heat and noise during operation and significantly improved speed. Sony and Microsoft chose to equip their new console game devices with SSDs instead of HDDs to reduce loading times for game operation and to support high-spec graphics.

The industry expects SSD market demand to increase with the release of new console game devices in the second half of this year. The sales forecast of 7 million units for the two companies' game consoles is estimated to have an impact equivalent to an increase of 70 million smartphones. The spread of artificial intelligence (AI), 5th generation mobile communication (5G), and the post-COVID-19 era's strengthened non-face-to-face demand for video, remote classes, and entertainment are also expected to positively influence the diversification of NAND flash and SSD sales.

In fact, Samsung Electronics is strengthening SSD marketing in line with the growth of the gaming industry. The company recently partnered with the North American "League of Legends Championship Series" and provided PCs equipped with the latest NVMe (M.2) SSDs to participating players. Last year, it also participated as an official sponsor in the "World Cyber Games (WCG)," a global e-sports festival, operating an SSD exhibition hall covering 180 pyeong.

SK Hynix also strengthened its consumer SSD market last year and began selling products through Amazon in the United States. The company emphasized the gaming advantages of its SSDs targeting related users.

Previously, Samsung Electronics introduced SSDs in notebook PCs in 2006, achieving the world's first commercialization and laying the foundation for ranking first in global market share. In 2011, it launched the consumer SSD 830 series, introduced the world's first 3D V-NAND in 2014, and in 2015, released the world's first V-NAND NVMe interface SSD. By 2018, Samsung Electronics set a record of 1,000 times storage capacity increase in 12 years since the launch of the 32GB SSD.

SK Hynix also entered the SSD business starting with supplying mSATA standard SSDs for ultrabooks in 2011. It launched consumer SSDs for the first time in 2012 and entered the enterprise SSD (4TB) market in 2018. Recently, it has been strengthening its business by shipping samples of NVMe SSDs supporting PCIe Gen4 interface for cloud data centers.

According to global market research firm Omdia, Samsung Electronics maintained a dominant first place in the global SSD market last year with 30.5%. Following are Intel (18.2%), Western Digital (11.2%), Kioxia (10.5%), Micron (6.5%), and SK Hynix (3.9%).

A semiconductor industry official said, "Traditionally, the SSD market demand was driven by global data center demand, but recently, demand is gradually expanding into entertainment, non-face-to-face related industries, and the gaming industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.