Sandisk has demonstrated a high-capacity 256TB NVMe enterprise SSD on its enterprise-grade UltraQLC, a NAND platform built with a combination of BiCS8 QLC CBA NAND, custom controllers and advanced system optimisations.
The new Sandisk 256TB NVMe SSD on the UltraQLC platform, is designed for AI-driven, data-intensive workloads like data ingest, preparation, and fast AI data lakes.
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.
- UltraQLC power optimisation, 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% (projected), improving drive reliability, resilience and continuous access to data while decreasing power consumption.
It will be available in U.2 form factor in the first half of 2026, with additional form factors available later in the year.