Kioxia Announces XFM Express XT2
The new storage device XFM Express / XFM Device adopts PCIe and NVMe transmission interface specifications.
Kioxia proposed the XFM Express mobile storage device design in 2019, which was adopted by JEDEC and promulgated the XFM Device 1.0 specification in 2021. Now, Kioxia finally launched the physical product XFM Express XT2.
The appearance and usage of XFM Express are somewhat similar to SD memory cards. Due to the PCIe x2 / x1, NVMe interface design, it can provide M.2, BGA / eMMC-like solid-state hard disk access speeds. The design concept of Kioxia is to provide a new form of miniaturization and easy disassembly/expansion for applications such as ultra-thin notebooks, vehicles, and IoT / 5G industries.
The debut XFM Express XT2 is based on the XFM Device 1.0 specification, PCIe 4.0 x2, and NVMe 1.4b interface design and the product size is only 14 x 18 x 1.4mm. The XFM Express XT2 also plays the role of a compliance assessment test kit, and Kioxia pointed out that it will be shipped to OEM customers from now on, with two capacities of 256GB and 512GB available.
XFM Express is conceptually attractive, but similar competing products are UFS led by Samsung. Although eUFS is also a BGA type, it has been widely adopted by devices such as smartphones. The UFS in the form of a memory card, although it has been launched for a long time, has little visibility, and Kioxia may have to work harder to promote XFM Express alone.
