Silicon Motion introduced the 6nm SM2508 controller for fast and cool SSDs with PCIe 5.0

Silicon Motion presented at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) event a controller for SSDs with a PCIe 5.0 interface that complies with the NVMe 2.0 standard. Drives based on it will find use in desktop and mobile computers, including AI systems, as well as in game consoles.

Image source: Silicon Motion

Silicon Motion SM2508 is the world’s first consumer controller for SSDs with PCIe 5.0 x4, manufactured using a 6-nm process technology using EUV lithography by TSMC, which ensured a 50% reduction in power consumption compared to 12-nm counterparts. The total power consumption of an SSD with this controller will be less than 7 W – 1.7 times lower than PCIe 4.0 SSDs and up to 70% better than competing PCIe 5.0 offerings. The chip itself consumes 3 W. Low power consumption allows you to use the SSD without an additional heatsink.

The component supports eight NAND channels at 3600 MT/s per channel, providing sequential read and write speeds of up to 14.5 and 13.6 GB/s, respectively, as well as 2.5 million IOPS for random operations – 2 times faster than for PCIe 4.0 products. Silicon Motion SM2508 supports 8th generation NANDXtend technology with a disk-learning algorithm that helps reduce Error Correction Code (ECC) time. Due to this, productivity and energy efficiency are increased; Supports the latest 3D TLC/QLC NAND memory chips, which provide high data density.

The Silicon Motion SM2508 is based on a quad-core Arm Cortex-R8 processor. The controller has already been taken into product development by several large SSD manufacturers, including major NAND chip suppliers. SM2508 drives will go into production in the fourth quarter of this year.