Microchip recently announced the availability of their second PCIe Gen 5 enterprise SSD controller - the Flashtec 5016. Like the 4016, this is also a 16-channel controller, but there are some key updates:

• PCIe 5.0 lane organization: Operation in x4 or dual independent x2 / x2 mode in the 5016, compared to the x8, or x4, or dual independent x4 / x2 mode in the 4016.
• DRAM support: Four ranks of DDR5-5200 in the 5016, compared to two ranks of DDR4-3200 in the 4016.
• Extended NAND support: 2400 MT/s NAND in the 4016, compared to the 3200 MT/s NAND support in the 5016.
• Performance improvements: The 5016 is capable of delivering 3.5M+ random read IOPS compared to the 3M+ of the 4016.

Microchip's enterprise SSD controllers provide a high level of flexibility to SSD vendors by providing them with significant horsepower and accelerators. The 5016 includes Cortex-A53 cores for SSD vendors to run custom applications relevant to SSD management. However, compared to the Gen4 controllers, there are two additional cores in the CPU cluster. The DRAM subsystem includes ECC support (both out-of-band and inline, as desired by the SSD vendor).

At FMS 2024, the company demonstrated an application of the neural network engines embedded in the Gen5 controllers. Controllers usually employ a 'read-retry' operation with altered read-out voltages for flash reads that do not complete successfully. Microchip implemented a machine learning approach to determine the read-out voltage based on the health history of the NAND block using the NN engines in the controller. This approach delivers tangible benefits for read latency and power consumption (thanks to a smaller number of errors on the first read).

The 4016 and 5016 come with a single-chip root of trust implementation for hardware security. A secure boot process with dual-signature authentication ensures that the controller firmware is not maliciously altered in the field. The company also brought out the advantages of their controller's implementation of SR-IOV, flexible data placement, and zoned namespaces along with their 'credit engine' scheme for multi-tenant cloud workloads. These aspects were also brought out in other demonstrations.

Microchip's press release included quotes from the usual NAND vendors - Solidigm, Kioxia, and Micron. On the customer front, Longsys has been using Flashtec controllers in their enterprise offerings along with YMTC NAND. It is likely that this collaboration will continue further using the new 5016 controller.

Sabrent's lineup of internal and external SSDs is popular among enthusiasts. The primary reason is the company's tendency to be among the first to market with products based on the latest controllers, while also delivering an excellent value proposition. The company has a long-standing relationship with Phison and adopts its controllers for many of their products. The company's 2 GBps-class portable SSD - the Rocket nano V2 - is based on Phison's U18 native controller. Read on for a detailed look at the Rocket nano V2 External SSD, including an analysis of its performance consistency, power consumption, and thermal profile.

One of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.

In an interview with Nikkei, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. The Hokkaido facility, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.

Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production. 

"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house." 

Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.

Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.

Kioxia's booth at FMS 2024 was a busy one with multiple technology demonstrations keeping visitors occupied. A walk-through of the BiCS 8 manufacturing process was the first to grab my attention. Kioxia and Western Digital announced the sampling of BiCS 8 in March 2023. We had touched briefly upon its CMOS Bonded Array (CBA) scheme in our coverage of Kioxial's 2Tb QLC NAND device and coverage of Western Digital's 128 TB QLC enterprise SSD proof-of-concept demonstration. At Kioxia's booth, we got more insights.

Traditionally, fabrication of flash chips involved placement of the associate logic circuitry (CMOS process) around the periphery of the flash array. The process then moved on to putting the CMOS under the cell array, but the wafer development process was serialized with the CMOS logic getting fabricated first followed by the cell array on top. However, this has some challenges because the cell array requires a high-temperature processing step to ensure higher reliability that can be detrimental to the health of the CMOS logic. Thanks to recent advancements in wafer bonding techniques, the new CBA process allows the CMOS wafer and cell array wafer to be processed independently in parallel and then pieced together, as shown in the models above.

The BiCS 8 3D NAND incorporates 218 layers, compared to 112 layers in BiCS 5 and 162 layers in BiCS 6. The company decided to skip over BiCS 7 (or, rather, it was probably a short-lived generation meant as an internal test vehicle). The generation retains the four-plane charge trap structure of BiCS 6. In its TLC avatar, it is available as a 1 Tbit device. The QLC version is available in two capacities - 1 Tbit and 2 Tbit.

Kioxia also noted that while the number of layers (218) doesn't compare favorably with the latest layer counts from the competition, its lateral scaling / cell shrinkage has enabled it to be competitive in terms of bit density as well as operating speeds (3200 MT/s). For reference, the latest shipping NAND from Micron - the G9 - has 276 layers with a bit density in TLC mode of 21 Gbit/mm², and operates at up to 3600 MT/s. However, its 232L NAND operates only up to 2400 MT/s and has a bit density of 14.6 Gbit/mm².

It must be noted that the CBA hybrid bonding process has advantages over the current processes used by other vendors - including Micron's CMOS under array (CuA) and SK hynix's 4D PUC (periphery-under-chip) developed in the late 2010s. It is expected that other NAND vendors will also move eventually to some variant of the hybrid bonding scheme used by Kioxia.

Kioxia's booth at FMS 2024 was a busy one with multiple technology demonstrations keeping visitors occupied. A walk-through of the BiCS 8 manufacturing process was the first to grab my attention. Kioxia and Western Digital announced the sampling of BiCS 8 in March 2023. We had touched briefly upon its CMOS Bonded Array (CBA) scheme in our coverage of Kioxial's 2Tb QLC NAND device and coverage of Western Digital's 128 TB QLC enterprise SSD proof-of-concept demonstration. At Kioxia's booth, we got more insights.

Traditionally, fabrication of flash chips involved placement of the associate logic circuitry (CMOS process) around the periphery of the flash array. The process then moved on to putting the CMOS under the cell array, but the wafer development process was serialized with the CMOS logic getting fabricated first followed by the cell array on top. However, this has some challenges because the cell array requires a high-temperature processing step to ensure higher reliability that can be detrimental to the health of the CMOS logic. Thanks to recent advancements in wafer bonding techniques, the new CBA process allows the CMOS wafer and cell array wafer to be processed independently in parallel and then pieced together, as shown in the models above.

The BiCS 8 3D NAND incorporates 218 layers, compared to 112 layers in BiCS 5 and 162 layers in BiCS 6. The company decided to skip over BiCS 7 (or, rather, it was probably a short-lived generation meant as an internal test vehicle). The generation retains the four-plane charge trap structure of BiCS 6. In its TLC avatar, it is available as a 1 Tbit device. The QLC version is available in two capacities - 1 Tbit and 2 Tbit.

Kioxia also noted that while the number of layers (218) doesn't compare favorably with the latest layer counts from the competition, its lateral scaling / cell shrinkage has enabled it to be competitive in terms of bit density as well as operating speeds (3200 MT/s). For reference, the latest shipping NAND from Micron - the G9 - has 276 layers with a bit density in TLC mode of 21 Gbit/mm², and operates at up to 3600 MT/s. However, its 232L NAND operates only up to 2400 MT/s and has a bit density of 14.6 Gbit/mm².

It must be noted that the CBA hybrid bonding process has advantages over the current processes used by other vendors - including Micron's CMOS under array (CuA) and SK hynix's 4D PUC (periphery-under-chip) developed in the late 2010s. It is expected that other NAND vendors will also move eventually to some variant of the hybrid bonding scheme used by Kioxia.

Western Digital's BiCS8 218-layer 3D NAND is being put to good use in a wide range of client and enterprise platforms, including WD's upcoming Gen 5 client SSDs and 128 TB-class datacenter SSD. On the external storage front, the company demonstrated four different products: for card-based media, 4 TB microSDUC and 8 TB SDUC cards with UHS-I speeds, and on the portable SSD front we had two 16 TB drives. One will be a SanDisk Desk Drive with external power, and the other in the SanDisk Extreme Pro housing with a lanyard opening in the case.

All of these are using BiCS8 QLC NAND, though I did hear booth talk (as I was taking leave) that they were not supposed to divulge the use of QLC in these products. The 4 TB microSDUC and 8 TB SDUC cards are rated for UHS-I speeds. They are being marketed under the SanDisk Ultra branding.

The SanDisk Desk Drive is an external SSD with a 18W power adapter, and it has been in the market for a few months now. Initially launched in capacities up to 8 TB, Western Digital had promised a 16 TB version before the end of the year. It appears that the product is coming to retail quite soon. One aspect to note is that this drive has been using TLC for the SKUs that are currently in the market, so it appears unlikely that the 16 TB version would be QLC. The units (at least up to the 8 TB capacity point) come with two SN850XE drives. Given the recent introduction of the 8 TB SN850X, an 'E' version with tweaked firmware is likely to be present in the 16 TB Desk Drive.

The 16 TB portable SSD in the SanDisk Extreme housing was a technology demonstration. It is definitely the highest capacity bus-powered portable SSD demonstrated by any vendor at any trade show thus far. Given the 16 TB Desk Drive's imminent market introduction, it is just a matter of time before the technology demonstration of the bus-powered version becomes a retail reality.

One of the core challenges that Rapidus will face when it kicks off volume production of chips on its 2nm-class process technology in 2027 is lining up customers. With Intel, Samsung, and TSMC all slated to offer their own 2nm-class nodes by that time, Rapidus will need some kind of advantage to attract customers away from its more established rivals. To that end, the company thinks they've found their edge: fully automated packaging that will allow for shorter chip lead times than manned packaging operations.

In an interview with Nikkei, Rapidus' president, Atsuyoshi Koike, outlined the company's vision to use advanced packaging as a competitive edge for the new fab. The Hokkaido facility, which is currently under construction and is expecting to begin equipment installation this December, is already slated to both produce chips and offer advanced packaging services within the same facility, an industry first. But ultimately, Rapidus biggest plan to differentiate itself is by automating the back-end fab processes (chip packaging) to provide significantly faster turnaround times.

Rapidus is targetting back-end production in particular as, compared to front-end (lithography) production, back-end production still heavily relies on human labor. No other advanced packaging fab has fully automated the process thus far, which provides for a degree of flexibility, but slows throughput. But with automation in place to handle this aspect of chip production, Rapidus would be able to increase chip packaging efficiency and speed, which is crucial as chip assembly tasks become more complex. Rapidus is also collaborating with multiple Japanese suppliers to source materials for back-end production. 

"In the past, Japanese chipmakers tried to keep their technology development exclusively in-house, which pushed up development costs and made them less competitive," Koike told Nikkei. "[Rapidus plans to] open up technology that should be standardized, bringing down costs, while handling important technology in-house." 

Financially, Rapidus faces a significant challenge, needing a total of ¥5 trillion ($35 billion) by the time mass production starts in 2027. The company estimates that ¥2 trillion will be required by 2025 for prototype production. While the Japanese government has provided ¥920 billion in aid, Rapidus still needs to secure substantial funding from private investors.

Due to its lack of track record and experience of chip production as. well as limited visibility for success, Rapidus is finding it difficult to attract private financing. The company is in discussions with the government to make it easier to raise capital, including potential loan guarantees, and is hopeful that new legislation will assist in this effort.

Intel has divested its entire stake in Arm Holdings during the second quarter, raising approximately $147 million. Alongside this, Intel sold its stake in cybersecurity firm ZeroFox and reduced its holdings in Astera Labs, all as part of a broader effort to manage costs and recover cash amid significant financial challenges.

The sale of Intel's 1.18 million shares in Arm Holdings, as reported in a recent SEC filing, comes at a time when the company is struggling with substantial financial losses. Despite the $147 million generated from the sale, Intel reported a $120 million net loss on its equity investments for the quarter, which is a part of a larger $1.6 billion loss that Intel faced during this period.

In addition to selling its stake in Arm, Intel also exited its investment in ZeroFox and reduced its involvement with Astera Labs, a company known for developing connectivity platforms for enterprise hardware. These moves are in line with Intel's strategy to reduce costs and stabilize its financial position as it faces ongoing market challenges.

Despite the divestment, Intel's past investment in Arm was likely driven by strategic considerations. Arm Holdings is a significant force in the semiconductor industry, with its designs powering most mobile devices, and, for obvious reasons, Intel would like to address these. Intel and Arm are also collaborating on datacenter platforms tailored for Intel's 18A process technology. Additionally, Arm might view Intel as a potential licensee for its technologies and a valuable partner for other companies that license Arm's designs.

Intel's investment in Astera Labs was also a strategic one as the company probably wanted to secure steady supply of smart retimers, smart cable modems, and CXL memory controller, which are used in volumes in datacenters and Intel is certainly interested in selling as many datacenter CPUs as possible.

Intel's financial struggles were highlighted earlier this month when the company released a disappointing earnings report, which led to a 33% drop in its stock value, erasing billions of dollars of capitalization. To counter these difficulties, Intel announced plans to cut 15,000 jobs and implement other expense reductions. The company has also suspended its dividend, signaling the depth of its efforts to conserve cash and focus on recovery. When it comes to divestment of Arm stock, the need for immediate financial stabilization has presumably taken precedence, leading to the decision.