Sandisk today demonstrated a high-capacity 256TB1 NVMeTM enterprise SSD, a breakthrough in storage capacity, performance and power efficiency, made possible by Sandisk’s new enterprise-grade UltraQLCTM platform. Offering extraordinary capacity, the UltraQLCTM platform marks a significant achievement in NAND architecture, built with a combination of BiCS8 QLC CBA NAND, custom controllers and advanced system optimizations.
As workloads and business requirements evolve in the AI era, flash storage must become more customizable to match complex workloads. The new SANDISK® 256TB1 NVMeTM SSD, built on the UltraQLCTM platform, is designed for AI-driven, data-intensive workloads like data ingest, preparation, and fast AI data lakes with high-performance speeds and power efficiency, while improving TCO for high-capacity applications in hyperscale cloud.
“As we move into the next phase of the AI era, flash storage is becoming a critical enabler of intelligent, high-performance workloads,” said Khurram Ismail, Chief Product Officer at Sandisk. “Our UltraQLCTM platform is the culmination of years of work and learnings to build a flexible and robust architecture that achieves extraordinary capacities and maximum performance while maintaining efficiency. This enables us to further expand our portfolio to meet AI demands at scale and helps our customers move faster, process more and turn data into real innovation.”
The SANDISK® UltraQLCTM 256TB1 NVMeTM SSD sets a new benchmark for hyperscale flash storage, purpose-built for the fast, intelligent data lakes powering AI at scale. With lower latency, higher bandwidth, and greater reliability, it delivers the performance needed for today’s most demanding AI workloads. Key innovations include:
- Direct Write QLC, which eliminates SLC buffering by enabling power-loss safe writes on the first pass
- BiCS8 2Tb QLC die that doubles storage density while maintaining compact die sizes
- UltraQLCTM power optimization, which uses Dynamic Frequency Scaling for up to 10% higher performance for a given power level2 (projected)
- Scalable multi-core controller that helps ensure high throughput and endurance at extreme capacities
- Data Retention (DR) profile that reduces DR recycles by up to 33 percent3 (projected), improving drive reliability, resilience and continuous access to data while decreasing power consumption
The SANDISK® SN670 128TB1 NVMeTM SSD and SANDISK® UltraQLCTM 256TB1 NVMeTM SSD will be available in U.2 form factor in the first half of 2026, with additional form factors available later in the year.
Sandisk will host a keynote at FMS 2025 on Wednesday, August 6, at 11:40 AM, to highlight its UltraQLCTM platform and will demo its milestone 256TB1 NVMeTM SSD, alongside additional innovative storage solutions, at FMS Booth #607.
Blog: Inside UltraQLC: The Enterprise SSD Platform Engineered for AI
For more information about Sandisk, please visit: https://www.sandisk.com/
