Chinese SSD maker YMTC lists first commercial PCIe 5.0 SSD as worldwide shortage intensifies — Xtacking 4.0 NAND powers speeds of up to 10,500 MB/s

Chinese manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) has just listed its first commercial PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD. The PC550 SSD features a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface along with the NVMe 2.0 protocol, and is being offered in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities. The SSD features YMTC’s X4-9070 3D NAND chips based on Xtacking 4.0, along with a four-channel design, which is claimed to help in reducing power consumption and heat generation when compared to eight-channel.

The YMTC PC550 SSD will be available in both M.2 2242 and M.2 2280 form factors and is primarily targeted at AI PCs and commercial client systems. According to the company, the drive can offer up to 10,500 MB/s sequential read and up to 10,000 MB/s sequential write on the 2TB variant. While that makes it considerably faster than some of the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs, it isn’t the fastest among PCIe 5.0 drives, as other manufacturers offer products capable of reaching speeds close to 15,000 MB/s.

Back in late 2024, we spotted a PCIe 5.0 SSD based on YMTC’s NAND delivering much higher speeds. The Zhitai TiPro9000, which used YMTC’s 5th-generation 3D NAND with the Xtacking 4.0 architecture, was tested with the Silicon Motion SM2508 controller and achieved sequential read speeds of 14,527 MB/s and write speeds of roughly 13,800 MB/s.

Coming back to the PC550, the 512GB base model is listed to offer up to 880K random read IOPS and 1,100K random write IOPS, along with a durability rating of 300TBW. Both the 1TB and 2TB models offer increased performance of 1,300K random read and write IOPS with an endurance of 600 TBW and 1,200 TBW respectively. As for power consumption, the drive is claimed to consume less than 3mW at idle and under 6W during active workloads.

The official product page of the YMTC PC550 SSD does not mention price or a way to purchase the drive, however, consumers interested in the product can drop an inquiry.

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