KIOXIA Announces Industry’s First 245.76 TB NVMe SSD Built for the Demands of Generative AI Environments

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 21, 2025--

KIOXIA America, Inc. has expanded its high-capacity KIOXIA LC9 Series enterprise SSD lineup by introducing the industry’s first 1 245.76 terabyte (TB) 2 NVMe™ SSD in a 2.5-inch and Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E3.L form factor. This new capacity and form factor option complements the previously announced 122.88 TB (2.5-inch) model and is purpose-built for the performance and efficiency demands of generative AI environments.

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Generative AI places unique demands on storage, including the need to store vast datasets for training large language models (LLMs), and to create embeddings and vector databases that support inference through retrieval augmented generation (RAG). These workloads require storage solutions with large capacity, high speed, and exceptional power efficiency.

Featuring a 32-die stack of 2 terabit (Tb) 3 BiCS FLASH™ QLC 3D flash memory with innovative CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology, KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs deliver the speed, scale, and density required to support the next wave of AI-centric workloads. This combination of advanced memory architecture and CBA technology enables 8 TB 3 in a small 154 BGA package – also an industry first 1. This milestone was made possible with advancements in Kioxia’s high-precision wafer processing, material design, and wire bonding technologies.

KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs are well-suited for data lakes, where massive data ingestion and rapid processing are essential. Unlike HDDs, which often bottleneck performance and leave costly GPUs underutilized, KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs enable dense storage in a compact footprint. By delivering up to 245.76 TB, each drive can replace multiple power-hungry HDDs, offering superior performance, lower overall power consumption, fewer drive slots used, and more efficient cooling, which would significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs Features Include:

“KIOXIA has a long history of advancing flash storage, and the KIOXIA LC9 Series continues that legacy by setting a new benchmark for capacity and innovation in the SSD space,” said Neville Ichhaporia, senior vice president and general manager of the SSD business unit at KIOXIA America, Inc. “As generative AI reshapes data center architecture, we’re delivering the kind of breakthrough technology that enables our customers to optimize their IT infrastructure investments - pushing boundaries in performance, efficiency, and scale.”

KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs are now sampling to select customers and will be featured at the Future of Memory and Storage 2025 conference, taking place August 5–7 in Santa Clara.

For more information, please visit www.kioxia.com, and follow the company on X, formerly known as Twitter and LinkedIn®.

About KIOXIA America, Inc.

KIOXIA America, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough BiCS FLASH™ 3D technology, KIOXIA continues to pioneer innovative memory, SSD and software solutions that enrich people's lives and expand society's horizons. The company's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems. For more information, please visit KIOXIA.com.

© 2025 KIOXIA America, Inc. All rights reserved. Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services, and contact information is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable KIOXIA product specifications.

Notes:

1: As of July 21, 2025, based on Kioxia survey.

2: Definition of SSD capacity: Kioxia Corporation defines a kilobyte (KB) as 1,000 bytes, a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes, a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, and a kibibyte (KiB) is 1,024 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2^30 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes and 1TB = 2^40 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary.

3: The flash memory capacity is calculated as 1 terabit (1 Tb) = 1,099,511,627,776 (2^40) bits, and 1 terabyte (1 TB) = 1,099,511,627,776 (2^40) bytes.

4: For RocksDB purposes, Kioxia confirmed the Write Amplification Factor (WAF) is approximately 1.1 when using the FDP function with the plug-in (a function extension program released on the Kioxia GitHub account. https://github.com/kioxia-jp/ufrop ).

5: The KIOXIA LC9 Series SSD supports Leighton-Micali Signature (LMS) algorithm acknowledged by CNSA 2.0 (Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0) as a digital signature algorithm to prevent firmware tampering in preparation for threats to conventional cryptographic algorithms posed by quantum computers. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) with a key length of 256 bits, which is the data encryption algorithm used in KIOXIA LC9 Series SSD, is also acknowledged by CNSA 2.0.

2.5-inch indicates the form factor of the SSD and not its physical size.

Read and write speed may vary depending on various factors such as host devices, software (drivers, OS etc.), and read/write conditions.

NVMe and NVMe-MI are registered or unregistered trademarks of NVM Express, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.

The OCP and OPEN COMPUTE PROJECT marks are owned by and used with the permission of the Open Compute Project Foundation.

Sanitize Instant Erase (SIE), Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) and FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) SED security optional models are available.

Security optional models are not available in all countries due to export and local regulations.

LinkedIn is a trademark of LinkedIn Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.

Other company names, product names and service names may be trademarks of third-party companies.

Featuring a 32-die stack of 2 Tb BiCS FLASH QLC 3D flash memory with innovative CBA technology, KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs deliver the speed, scale, and density required to support the next wave of AI-centric workloads.

DWEIL'A, Syria (AP) — At a church in Syria where a suicide attack killed 25 people in June, hundreds of worshippers gathered before Christmas to remember those they lost and reaffirm their faith.

With a small detail of security forces standing guard outside, members of Mar Elias Church held Mass on Tuesday evening and lit an image of Christmas tree made of neon lights on the wall of the courtyard outside. The tree was hung with pictures of those who were killed in the attack.

They include three men the congregation hails as heroes for tackling the bomber, potentially averting a much higher death toll in the June 22 attack.

A man opened fire then detonated an explosive vest inside the Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a on the outskirts of Damascus as it was filled with people praying on a Sunday.

Before he detonated the vest, brothers Boutros and Gergis Bechara and another congregant, Milad Haddad, tackled the shooter and pushed him out of the center of the church, congregants said.

“If it weren’t for the three of them, maybe not one person would remain out of 400 people,” said Imad Haddad, the brother of Milad Haddad, who attended Tuesday's Christmas tree lighting.

He hasn't decorated for Christmas or put up a tree at home, but gathering at the church was “is a message of peace and love” and a message that “we are believers and we are strong and we are steadfast in spite of everything," he said.

Thana al-Masoud, the widow of Boutros Bechara, recalled searching frantically for her husband after the explosion but she never found him, alive or dead. His body had been ripped apart by the blast.

“There’s no holiday, neither this year nor next year nor the one after it," she said.

She takes comfort in the belief that her husband and the two other men who confronted the attacker are martyrs for their faith.

“Our Lord chose them to be saints and to spread His word to all the world,” she said. “But the separation is difficult."

The attack on the church was the first of its kind in Syria in years and came as a new Sunni Islamist- dominated government in Damascus sought to win the confidence of religious minorities following the ouster of former President Bashar Assad.

Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has struggled to exert authority across the country, even in the ranks of allied groups. There have been several deadly outbreaks of sectarian violence in the country in the past year.

While the new government has condemned attacks on minorities, many accuse it of failing to act to control the armed factions it is trying to absorb into the new state army and security forces.

The June attack was blamed on an Islamic State cell, which authorities said had also planned to target a Shiite shrine. IS did not claim responsibility for the attack, while a little-known group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunna said one of its members had carried out the attack. The government said the group was a cover for IS.

Christians made up about 10% of Syria’s population of 23 million before mass anti-government protests in 2011 were met by a brutal government crackdown and spiraled into a brutal 14-year civil war that saw the rise of IS and other extremist groups.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians fled during the war, during which there were sectarian attacks on Christians including the kidnapping of nuns and priests and destruction of churches. Now many are once again seeking to leave.

Since losing her husband in the church attack, Juliette Alkashi feels numb.

The couple had been sweethearts before she left Syria with her mother and brother to emigrate to Venezuela. In 2018, when Emile Bechara asked her to marry him, Alkashi moved back to Syria even though it was still in the midst of a civil war.

“Whatever is going to happen will happen, and I’ve surrendered to it," she said. "If one goes to pray and dies in the church — whatever God has written is what will be.”

The only thing that matters now, Alkashi said, is that she and her 3-year-old son remain together.

Some congregants said the attack only strengthened their faith.

“I saw a column of smoke rising from the ground to the ceiling, and I heard a voice saying, ‘I will not forsake you and I will not leave you,’” said Hadi Kindarji, who described an intense spiritual experience in the moment of the explosion.

He believes today that even the seemingly senseless violence was part of God's plan.

“Our God is present, and He was present in the church,” he said.

Yohanna Shehadeh, the priest of Mar Elias church, acknowledged many in the congregation are afraid of more deadly violence.

“Fear is a natural state. I’m not going to tell you there is no fear, and I’m not only talking about the Christians but about all the Syrian people, from all sects,” Shehadeh said.

As Christmas approaches, he said, they are praying for peace.

People react as they attend the lighting of a Christmas tree at the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias Church, months after the church was the site of a deadly suicide bombing, in the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

A Scout band plays during the lighting ceremony of a Christmas tree at the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias Church, months after the church was the site of a deadly suicide bombing, in the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

People attend the lighting of a Christmas tree at the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias Church, months after the church was the site of a deadly suicide bombing, in the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Two women hug each other as they attend the lighting of a Christmas tree at the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias Church, months after the church was the site of a deadly suicide bombing, in the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

People attend the lighting of a Christmas tree at the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias Church, months after the church was the site of a deadly suicide bombing, in the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)