QLC SSDs have begun to displace HDDs from Meta data centers – they are more capacious and efficient

During its latest quarterly earnings call, Pure Storage proudly announced a deal with an unnamed hyperscaler that would bring its DirectFlash solutions to large-scale environments traditionally dominated by hard drives. As expected, the deal was with Meta✴, to which Pure will supply its proprietary flash drives, writes Blocks& Files. It is implied that the hyperscaler’s HDD purchases will be significantly reduced as a result of this deal. Pure Storage itself hopes that after 2028, SSDs will completely displace HDDs in data centers.

Blocks& Files also notes that Wedbush financial analysts view the deal as “an extremely positive outcome for Pure Storage given the significant number of EBs it will likely ship.” Pure says its technology “will become the de facto standard for Meta✴ storage, with the exception of some very demanding workloads.” Blocks& Files believes that Meta✴ is working with Pure Storage on drives, controllers, and management software (Purity), so pre-built all-flash array vendors will likely be unable to secure large contracts with Meta✴.

Pure Storage claims that its proprietary 150TB (and soon 300TB) QLC DFM (Direct Flash Module) drives will save significant rack space, power, and cooling costs compared to storing the same EB on 30TB to 50TB HDDs. According to the Pure Storage blog, “DFMs dramatically reduce power consumption compared to legacy HDD-based solutions, allowing hyperscalers to consolidate multiple tiers of storage onto a single platform.”

Image source: Meta✴

Additionally, “Pure Storage provides hyperscalers and enterprises with a single, optimized architecture that supports all tiers of storage, from cost-effective archive solutions to high-performance mission-critical workloads and the most demanding AI workloads, as DirectFlash technology delivers the “optimal balance of price, performance, and density.”

The Meta✴ blog notes that “HDDs are growing in density but not in performance, and TLC flash memory remains in a price range that limits scaling. QLC technology addresses these issues by occupying an intermediate level between HDDs and TLC SSDs. QLC offers higher density, improved power efficiency, and better cost than existing TLC SSDs.” It also notes that the target workloads require high read throughput with relatively low write throughput requirements.

«Since the majority of power consumption in any NAND flash media is writes, we expect our workloads to consume less power with QLC SSDs,” Meta✴ said, adding that the company is partnering with Pure Storage, using its DFM drives and DirectFlash platform to build reliable QLC-based storage. The company said it is also working with other NAND vendors to integrate standard NVMe QLC SSDs into their data centers.

Meta✴ prefers the U.2 form factor over EDSFF E.3 because “it allows for capacity to scale to 512TB… Pure Storage’s DFM can scale to 600TB with the same NAND packaging technology.” A DFM-enabled server also allows for the use of U.2 drives. “This strategy allows us to take advantage of competition on cost, speed of deployment, power efficiency, and vendor diversity,” Meta✴ said.

Meta✴ thus recognizes the potential of QLC flash memory to optimize storage cost, performance, and power consumption for data center workloads. As flash memory vendors continue to invest in memory and increase QLC production volumes, we should expect significant cost reductions for its use. This does not bode well for HDD manufacturers, who are hoping that HAMR technology will preserve the existing price differential between HDDs and SSDs.

«“We’d like to point out that while Pure Storage will likely displace some HDDs, we also believe that Meta✴’s HDD requirements should grow in 2025–2026,” Wedbush analysts said. In other words, flash hasn’t yet forced Meta✴ to abandon HDDs, but it has limited the growth rate of HDDs. “Any meaningful shift from HDDs to SSDs in cloud environments should likely result in higher long-term flash CAGRs, which should ultimately benefit memory vendors (Kioxia, Micron, Sandisk, etc.),” Wedbush concluded.