SK Hynix-Solidigm's First 'Joint Product' SSD Released... "NAND Synergy Full-Scale" (Comprehensive)

Full-Scale Entry into the Enterprise SSD Market Growing at an Average Annual Rate of 15.4%

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] SK Hynix is launching its first enterprise SSD (NAND flash memory-based data storage device) product that combines the technologies of both companies after acquiring Intel's NAND business unit. This is the first result released three months after completing the first phase of acquiring Intel's NAND business division in December last year to dominate the NAND market and launching its subsidiary Solidigm.

On the 5th, SK Hynix announced that it will release the enterprise SSD 'P5530', developed in collaboration with its subsidiary Solidigm, established in San Jose, USA. The P5530 combines SK Hynix's flagship 128-layer 4D NAND with Solidigm's controller, making it a high-performance product suitable for data centers. It supports a 4th generation high-speed input/output interface capable of transferring over 8GB (gigabytes) of data per second. It will be available in three capacities: 1TB (terabyte), 2TB, and 4TB.

Both companies have completed their own performance evaluations of the new product and are currently supplying samples to major overseas customers operating data centers. SK Hynix has been developing products that combine the technological strengths of both companies since immediately after acquiring Intel's NAND business unit. This is to elevate SK Hynix's NAND business competitiveness, which had been lacking compared to DRAM, to the next level. SK Hynix had mainly possessed competitiveness focused on mobile within the NAND business, but since Intel has strong competitiveness in the enterprise SSD market, they judged that combining forces could complement each other's weaknesses.

Besides being the first product demonstrating the synergy between the two companies, this new product is significant as it lays the foundation for actively entering the enterprise SSD market, which is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 15.4%. SK Hynix, which entered the enterprise SSD market relatively late, expects to raise its status in the enterprise SSD market by leveraging the integration synergy with Solidigm. At the regular shareholders' meeting held at the end of last month, SK Hynix Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho also expressed his ambition, stating, "We will gradually integrate the SSD businesses of SK Hynix and Solidigm to maximize synergy."

According to market research firm Omdia, the enterprise SSD market recorded sales of $18.616 billion last year and is expected to rapidly grow to $22.014 billion this year and $36.68 billion by 2026. The estimated compound annual growth rate from 2021 to 2026 is 15.4%. The share of enterprise SSDs in the overall SSD market is also expected to increase steadily in terms of sales. The share, which was 54.8% in 2021, is expected to expand to 56.0% in 2022 and 63.2% by 2026. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, including artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous driving, is driving a surge in data storage and processing demand, leading to increased orders for ESSDs optimized for data centers.

SK Hynix President Noh Jong-won said, “By quickly launching this new product that combines the capabilities of Korea’s SK Hynix and the US’s Solidigm, we have not only strengthened the company’s NAND business competitiveness but also gained momentum for the ‘Inside America’ strategy. We will continue to optimize between the two companies to create synergy that exceeds ‘1+1.’”

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