With AI now widely deployed across the automotive sector, Samsung Electronics says it has developed the first PCIe 4.0 automotive SSD based on eighth-generation (236-layer) vertical NAND (V-NAND).
The new auto SSD, AM9C1, delivers on-device AI capabilities in automotive applications.
With about 50 percent improved power efficiency compared to its predecessor, the AM991, the new 256GB auto SSD will deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 4,400 megabytes per second (MBps) and 400 MBps, respectively, says the vendor.
“We are collaborating with global autonomous vehicle makers and providing high-performance, high-capacity automotive products,” said Hyunduk Cho, vice president and head of the automotive group at Samsung Electronics’ memory business. “We will continue to lead the physical AI memory market. that encompasses applications from autonomous driving to robotics technologies.”
Built on Samsung’s 5-nanometer (nm) controller and providing a single-level cell (SLC) namespace feature, the AM9C1 is currently being sampled by “key partners”, said Samsung, and is expected to begin mass production by the end of this year.
Samsung plans to offer multiple storage capacities for the SSD, ranging from 128 GB to 2 TB, to address the growing demand for higher-capacity automotive SSDs. The 2 TB model, which is set to offer the industry’s largest capacity in this product category, is scheduled to start mass production “early next year,” the supplier said.
The SSD is deemed to satisfy the automotive semiconductor quality standard AEC-Q1003 Grade 2, ensuring stable performance over a wide temperature range of -40°C to 105°C.
Samsung received ASPICE CL3 authentication for its 5G mobile and automotive UFS 3.1 flash storage product in March this year. CL3 is the highest standard for software and firmware in the automotive industry, with Western Digital also achieving it this year.
Earlier this month, Samsung said it was targeting the general AI market through the first mass production of its 1 TB quad-level cell QLC 9th-generation V-NAND.
