By Muhammad Zuhair
Publication Date: 2025-12-16 16:14:00
It seems that the AI industry is now focusing on creating an inference-optimized AI SSD through NAND chips, as SK hynix plans to introduce a solution by 2027.
NVIDIA & SK hynix Are Co-Developing an “AI SSD” That Could Bring Massive Benefits to Inference Workloads
As traditional AI workloads shift from training to inference, there’s a need to switch up the tech stack to ensure a low-latency, high-throughput environment. One of the reasons for this is how NVIDIA has decided to integrate general-purpose GDDR7 memory into the Rubin CPX GPU for prefill. According to a report by Chosun Biz, a similar approach is also expected for NAND chips. It is claimed that NVIDIA and SK hynix are developing a new SSD solution named “Storage Next” as an internal project, and it could revolutionize the NAND segment.
It is claimed that SK hynix plans to present a prototype by the end of next year, and that the AI SSD could scale up to a massive 100 million IOPS, which is significantly larger compared to what traditional enterprise SSDs feature. When examining the need for such a solution, it becomes clear that the current AI workload structure requires continuous access to massive model parameters, which cannot be accommodated by HBM or general-purpose DRAM products. The AI SSD would eventually allow a pseudo-memory layer, optimized for AI workloads.
The Korean giant is reportedly collaborating with NVIDIA on the Storage Next project, with the primary…
