Micron has officially unveiled a new portfolio of industry-first solid-state drives (SSDs) designed to meet the extreme data demands of the AI-driven data center. This launch includes three new data center SSDs, all built with Micron’s 9th-generation 3D NAND node. While these drives are primarily intended for hyperscale data centers run by tech giants like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, there’s a strong possibility that some of this cutting-edge technology could eventually find its way into consumer-facing products sold under Micron’s Crucial brand.
Micron 9650: A Leap to PCIe Gen6
The Micron 9650 SSD is at the forefront of this announcement, claiming the title of the world’s first PCIe Gen6 data center SSD. This is a monumental step forward in data transfer technology. To put its speed into perspective, it delivers up to 28 GB/s in sequential read speeds and 14 GB/s in sequential write speeds, which is twice the performance of competitive Gen5 drives. This kind of speed is crucial for accelerating AI training and inference workloads, which require massive amounts of data to be accessed quickly. The 9650 also offers superior energy efficiency, with up to a 25% improvement for random writes, helping data centers meet sustainability goals while enhancing performance.
Micron 6600 ION: Density and Efficiency
For data centers building massive AI data lakes, the Micron 6600 ION SSD offers a breakthrough in scalability and density. This drive, which is the world’s first E3S data center SSD, will be available in an enormous 122TB capacity, and a future version is planned to deliver a record-setting 245TB in a single drive. To put the 122TB E3S SSD’s size into perspective, it is approximately the size of a deck of cards, allowing data centers to consolidate server infrastructure and build massive data lakes while drastically reducing their physical footprint and energy consumption. For example, it offers 37% better energy efficiency than the three 36TB HDDs required to deliver the same capacity, and it does so in less than a quarter of the space.
Micron 7600: Performance and Affordability
Finally, the Micron 7600 SSD offers a more balanced solution for AI inference and mixed workloads. This drive provides class-leading PCIe Gen5 performance and low latency to support predictable, lightning-fast responsiveness for demanding data center workloads. It is capable of delivering sub-1 millisecond latency, which is ideal for workloads where a quick response is critical. With sequential reads of 12 GB/s and sequential writes of 7 GB/s, the 7600 SSD outperforms competitive mainstream SSDs and offers a great balance of affordability and predictable performance. All these drives are designed and manufactured with Micron’s own NAND, DRAM, and firmware, which helps to provide exceptional quality and a secure supply chain.
Availability
The Micron 9650 and 7600 SSD samples are shipping now to customers. The 6600 ION 122TB SSD samples are shipping later in the third quarter of calendar year 2025. The 245TB SSD version of the 6600 ION is planned to be available in the first half of calendar year 2026.
