The Definitive Guide toAI Data Centers
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GuideGlossarySSD

SSD · solid-state drive

Flash-based storage with no moving parts, the default medium for the node-local scratch and checkpoint tiers where sustained per-drive bandwidth matters more than capacity cost.

Current numbers

~28 / 14 GB/sPCIe 6.0 x4 enterprise SSD sequential read/write (Micron 9650, first Gen6 in mass production), ~5.5M IOPS; E1.S & E3.Sas of 2026 · register ↗
>5xCXL KV-pool speedup vs SSD-based caching; ~3.8x vs 200G RDMA; up to 87% less GPU memory usedas of 2026 · register ↗
122 TBshipping QLC SSD capacity (Solidigm); public roadmap to ~245 TB in 2026as of 2025 · register ↗

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