Pure Storage says 300TB SSDs will arrive in 2026

The provider of all-flash storage devices, Pure Storage, recently announced at the Accelerate conference that its proprietary Direct Flash Module (DFM) solid-state drive (SSD) capacity will double in the next few years, reaching 300TB.

Pure Storage expects a significant increase in SSD capacity due to the improvement in 3D NAND density and layering. While consumer-grade SSD capacity will also continue to improve, the increase in capacity will not be as significant as that of enterprise-grade flash modules.

Currently, Pure Storage is already shipping 24TB and 48TB DFM SSDs, and the company’s goal is to release 300TB solid-state drives by 2026.

Pure Storage’s proprietary DFM SSD is primarily used in the company’s own FlashArray and FlashBlade storage systems, which use solid-state drives to significantly improve read and write speeds and performance. These types of systems are also known as all-flash servers.

Although DFM also uses standard 3D TLC or 3D QLC NAND and U.2 NVMe protocols, it is currently unclear how Pure Storage manages to cram numerous NAND chips onto a PCB, unless the capacity of a single NAND chip significantly increases in the next few years.

Currently, Pure Storage uses 112-160 layers of 3D NAND chips, and the industry expects 3D NAND to stack up to 400-500 layers in the next five years, which would indeed lead to a surge in capacity.

Considering that 3D NAND and packaging technology are rapidly developing, it would not be surprising if solid-state drive capacity surpasses that of mechanical hard drives in the next few years.

Via: TechRadar