KIOXIA has officially announced its new LC9 series, a 122.88 terabyte SSD designed to meet the growing storage needs of Artificial Intelligence systems. The presentation took place during NVIDIA’s GTC 2025 conference, an event where AI took center stage.
The KIOXIA LC9 series represents a significant leap for the data center sector, offering not only colossal capacity but also energy efficiency and high transfer speeds, thanks to its compatibility with PCIe 5.0 and NVMe 2.0 technology.
Advanced Technology for AI
The KIOXIA LC9 utilizes eighth-generation QLC BiCS FLASH™ memory with 2 terabit chips, manufactured using the innovative CBA (CMOS Bonded to Array) technology. This design not only allows for previously unseen capacities but also contributes to enhanced energy efficiency and sustained performance.
The drive features a 2.5-inch form factor and is dual-port, enabling it to operate as a PCIe 5.0 x4 device or split into two x2 links. During the presentation, KIOXIA demonstrated sustained reads close to the theoretical limit of the interface, reaching 15 GB/s.
Designed for Read-Intensive Workloads
Although the LC9 is not designed for environments with massive writes, its endurance of 0.3 DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) over five years ensures adequate durability for read-intensive applications, such as training and inference of AI models or RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) vector databases. According to the company’s calculations, this equates to being able to write up to 67,000 terabytes in five years.
The Perfect Complement for Advanced Solutions
The new LC9 series also integrates with KIOXIA’s recently announced AiSAQ™ technology, which allows for storing elements of vector databases directly on the SSDs, reducing dependence on expensive and limited DRAM. This translates to greater rack-level efficiency and lower energy consumption per terabyte stored.
“The explosive growth of AI models demands ever-larger storage capacities and faster access speeds to the massive datasets available today. The KIOXIA LC9 and our AiSAQ™ technology are designed to meet that challenge,” said Axel Störmann, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for SSD and embedded memory products at KIOXIA Europe.
Towards a Future Dominated by AI and Ultradense Storage
The arrival of the LC9 not only redefines storage for AI applications but also marks a step toward more compact and sustainable data center environments. Thanks to its dual-port design and large capacity, the LC9 series will allow developers and operators to manage enormous volumes of information without compromising performance or energy efficiency.
The KIOXIA LC9 is expected to be available in the second half of 2025, accompanied by 15mm thick variants designed for air-cooled systems.
With this launch, KIOXIA affirms its leadership in storage innovation, responding to market demand for increasingly faster, denser, and more sustainable solutions for the next generation of artificial intelligence.