SK hynix has announced it has completed the development of "PCB01" which is a new SSD for on-device AI PCs which boasts the industry's highest performance, with mass production expected to begin within the year.
The South Korean memory giant underlined the breakthrough in performance, including data processing speeds, by using an 8-channel PCIe 5th generation standard for the first time with its new PCB01. SK hynix said: "Following our leadership in ultra-high-performance DRAM represented by HBM, we have now also achieved the highest level of product development in NAND solutions, solidifying our leadership in the AI memory sector".
We can expect SK hynix's new PCB01 SSD to feature 14GB/sec sequential reads, and 12GB/sec sequential writes, which will make it one of the top (but not the tippy top) of SSDs for the PC. SK hynix is pushing the AI side of things with its new PCB01 SSD, which is capable of running Large Language Models (LLMs) which are needed for AI training and inference, within a single second.
The new PCB01 SSD is also more power efficient, with Business Korea reporting "more than 30% compared to the previous generation, significantly enhancing the stability of large-scale AI computational tasks".
SK hynix is using SLC caching technology for its new PCB01 SSD, with SLC caching tech operating part of the NAND storage cells as faster SLCs, helping PC users perform their regular computing tasks -- normal software, gaming, etc -- quickly, so it's not just an AI-focused SSD.
Security features have also been baked into PCB01, with SK hynix's technical team embedding a Root of Trust (ROT) into PCB01 to prevent external security attacks and data tampering, while also protecting your passwords. SK hynix has plans to release its upcoming PCB01 SSD in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities.