Kioxia CM10 PCIe 6. 0 SSD Uses 332-Layer BiCS10 TLC and Reaches 64TB
Kioxia has introduced the CM10, its first enterprise SSD family supporting PCI Express 6. 0. The new range combines an NVMe 2. 1 interface with tenth-generation BiCS Flash, a 332-layer TLC NAND design developed through the Kioxia-Sandisk manufacturing alliance.
Kioxia has introduced the CM10, its first enterprise SSD family supporting PCI Express 6. 0. The new range combines an NVMe 2. 1 interface with tenth-generation BiCS Flash, a 332-layer TLC NAND design developed through the Kioxia-Sandisk manufacturing alliance. Compared with the preceding CM9 generation, Kioxia claims as much as 92% higher sequential-read performance and an 85% improvement in random reads. Absolute throughput and IOPS figures have not yet been published, so direct comparisons with competing PCIe 6. 0 drives remain premature. CM10 capacities span approximately 2TB through 64TB, with separate one- and three-drive-write-per-day endurance classes. Form factors include EDSFF E3. S, E1. S and conventional 2. 5-inch housings. The E3. S and 9. 5mm E1. S versions can connect to a cold plate for direct liquid cooling. This reflects the thermal constraints of next-generation AI servers, where CPUs, GPUs, networking and storage must share increasingly limited airflow. One qualification is important: Kioxia’s 2. 5-inch CM10 version is reportedly limited to PCIe 5. 0 and uses BiCS8 rather than BiCS10 NAND. Buyers should therefore not assume every product carrying the CM10 name has the same interface or flash generation. The drives partially support the OCP Datacenter NVMe SSD 2. 7 specification and include Flexible Data Placement. FDP allows software to organize writes more efficiently, reducing internal garbage collection and write amplification. Selected data-center customers are already receiving samples. General production timing, pricing and individual capacity-performance specifications remain undisclosed. PCIe 6. 0 doubles the raw link rate of PCIe 5. 0, while 332-layer NAND improves density. CM10 offers an early view of the controller, cooling and flash technologies likely to shape future workstation storage. Kioxia CM10 specificationDetailsPrimary interfacePCIe 6. 0, NVMe 2. 1NAND332-layer BiCS10 TLCCapacitiesApproximately 2TB–64TBForm factorsE3. S, E1. S and 2. 5-inchEndurance options1 or 3 DWPDCoolingAir or direct liquid cooling, depending on form factorSource:Kioxia