Kioxia America has launched the latest generation of its Universal Flash Storage (UFS) embedded flash memory devices, designed to maximise 5G application performance.
Supported in capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB, the new version 4.0 products are suited for leading-edge smartphones and other devices.
UFS is a class of embedded memory product built to the JEDEC UFS standard specification. Due to its serial interface, UFS supports full duplexing, which enables both concurrent reading and writing between the host processor and UFS device.
Kioxia says the new offering provides “optimal utilization” of 5G connectivity, resulting in accelerated downloads, minimized latency, and an enhanced user experience. A smaller package size – around 18 percent smaller – when compared to the last version also contributes to board space efficiency and design flexibility.
Version 4.0 devices integrate the company’s BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and a controller in a JEDEC standard package. They incorporate MIPI M-PHY 5.0 and UniPro 2.0 technology, and support theoretical interface speeds of up to 23.2 Gbps per lane, or 46.4 Gbps per device. UFS 4.0 is backward compatible with UFS 3.1.
Compared to the previous generation 512 GB offering, the read/write speed improvement is +15 percent sequential write, +50 percent random write, and +30 percent random read.
“The newest generation of our UFS 4.0 devices is testament to our commitment to continually push performance boundaries, and make improved user experience a reality,” said Maitry Dholakia, vice president of the memory business unit at Kioxia America.
Sample shipments for the 256 GB and 512 GB products started this month, with the 1 TB offering following in June 2024.
Kioxia America is a subsidiary of Kioxia Corporation, the global supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). Kioxia Corporation is 56.24 percent owned by a Bain Capital-led private equity consortium, and 40.64 percent owned by Toshiba.
Last week, Kioxia Europe unveiled its EXCERIA G2 SD memory card series, offering capacities of up to 1TB. The “next gen” products are designed for long-time 4K video recording, for instance, and have an improved read speed of up to 100 MB/s, and a write speed of up to 50 MB/s.
Kioxia is reportedly preparing an IPO to recapitalize itself as a loan payment of ¥900 billion ($5.8 billion) becomes due in June.
