PCIe Gen5 SSD controller for enterprise and PC or automotive AI applications

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation has announced the SM2508, the best power-efficient PCIe Gen5 NVMe 2.0 client SSD controller for AI PCs and gaming consoles. It is the world’s first PCIe Gen5 client SSD controller employing TSMC’s 6nm EUV process, which provides a 50% reduction in power consumption compared to competitive offerings in the 12nm process. With less than 7W power consumption for the whole SSD, it delivers 1.7x better power efficiency than PCIe Gen4 SSDs and up to 70% better than current competitive PCIe Gen5 offerings.

The device is a superior-performance, low-power PCIe Gen5 x4 NVMe 2.0 SSD controller designed for AI-capable PC notebooks. It supports eight NAND channels with up to 3,600MT/s per channel, supplying sequential performance speeds of up to 14.5GB/s and 13.6GB/s and random performance speeds of up to 2.5M IOPS, providing up to 2x higher performance than PCIe Gen4 products. The device maximises PCIe Gen5 performance with an impressive power consumption of approximately 3W. It features the company’s proprietary 8th-generation NANDXtend technology, incorporating an on-disk training algorithm to lower ECC timing. This enhancement boosts performance and maximises power efficiency while ensuring compatibility with the latest 3D TLC/QLC NAND technologies, allowing higher data density and meeting the evolving demands of next-generation AI PCs.

“SSD storage solutions are continuously evolving to meet the new challenges posed by future AI applications, which demand data efficiency and high-performance models,” said Nelson Duann, Silicon Motion’s senior VP of Client and Automotive Storage Business. “Our PCIe Gen5 SSD controller, with its best-in-class power efficiency, is designed to satisfy the unique demands of today’s AI-capable PCs, delivering high performance and power efficiency to meet the evolving AI PC standards of tomorrow.”