Kioxia Launches Liquid-Cooled NX1 AI SSDs To Tame Extreme Heat
Call it an AI upgrade super-cycle, if you will, but today's AI servers pack dozens of high-power GPUs into tighter rack environments. Managing thermal output has quickly become a key operational bottleneck for hyperscale data centers amid the AI arms race. Enter Kioxia, which aims to address those mounting heat challenges with its new NX1 series, a family of E1.S PCIe 5.0 NVMe solid-state drives featuring support for direct liquid cooling (DLC), otherwise known as direct-to-chip cooling.
Serving as the successor to the company's XD8 Series, the NX1 lineup is tailored specifically for accelerator-rich server chassis where traditional air cooling is reaching its physical limits. The NX1 also represents Kioxia's first SSD release to support DLC (not to be confused with downloadable content).
"As AI infrastructure continues to scale, storage must keep pace with increasingly dense, accelerator-rich server designs. The E1.S form factor helps maximize storage density while supporting advanced thermal management, including cold-plate-compatible direct liquid cooling configurations that enable efficient heat dissipation in high-performance AI server environments," Kioxia says.
Underneath the heat spreader, the NX1 series pairs a next-generation Kioxia controller built in-house with 8th-generation BiCS Flash triple-level cell (TCL) memory (same as found on Kioxia's BG7 series SSDs), utilizing CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) technology.
Compared to the outgoing XD8 series, Kioxia claims its latest SSD series boosts sequential write throughput by up to 38% and delivers up to 20% faster random write performance.
Drive capacities range from 1.92TB up to 15.36TB, rated for read-intensive enterprise workloads at 1 Drive Write Per Day (DWPD). Optional TCG Opal-compliant Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) security models will also be offered for security-focused cloud providers.
Kioxia is offering two versions of its NX1 series: E1.S 9.5mm designed for both cold-plate-compatible direct liquid cooling setups and standard air cooling, and E1.S 15mm with a thicker passive heatsink for traditional high-airflow server racks.
The new Kioxia NX1 series is currently sampling to select hyperscale and cloud partners.
