[News] SK hynix Reportedly Aims 100 Million IOPS with AI-NAND by 2027 in Collaboration with NVIDIA

2027 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for SK hynix’s next-generation NAND ambitions. The company is accelerating its next-generation AI NAND development by teaming up with NVIDIA, aiming to deliver storage performance up to 30 times faster than current enterprise SSDs by 2027, according to ZDNet.

According to the report, the HBM leader is collaborating with NVIDIA on advanced AI NAND, with initial samples expected by the end of 2026. The company is already preparing a second-generation product, aiming for mass production by the close of 2027, the report notes.

Meanwhile, for the highly anticipated HBF (High Bandwidth Flash), developed in collaboration with SanDisk and dubbed “AI-N B,” SK hynix plans to begin evaluations once 2027 samples become available, the report adds.

AI-NAND Roadmap in Detail: AI-N P, AI-N B in Focus

ZDNet reports that while the AI industry splits between data centers, which demand massive processing, and on-device AI, which emphasizes high-efficiency, low-power operation, SK hynix is focusing on high-value AI memory tailored to each segment.

The report further points out that SK hynix’s AI-N initiative targets next-gen NAND with three approaches: AI-N P (ultra high performance SSD), AI-N B (High Bandwidth Flash), and AI-N D (High Capacity/ Low Cost SSD).

Among these, AI-N P is designed to efficiently handle high-volume data I/O in large-scale AI inference environments, minimizing bottlenecks between AI computation and storage, the report explains. Notably, SK hynix is achieving this through a redesigned NAND and controller architecture, and is conducting joint proof-of-concept (PoC) testing with NVIDIA.

The report, citing Kim Cheon-sung, Vice President of SK hynix, reveals that the firm targets ambitious performance milestones: sample products supporting 25 million IOPS—a measure of how many read/write operations a storage device can handle per second—over PCIe Gen 6 are expected to debut by late 2026. By the end of 2027, the company aims to mass-produce versions capable of 100 million IOPS, ZDNet notes.

According to Hankyung, current enterprise SSDs on the market achieve roughly 2–3 million IOPS, which is significantly slower compared to DRAM modules, capable of several billion up to 10 billion IOPS. By comparison, the AI-N P expected next year is projected to deliver 8–10 times the performance of today’s SSDs, with second-generation products potentially exceeding 30 times, ZDNet adds.

On the other hand, the report also highlights AI-N B (HBF), which significantly expands memory bandwidth compared to conventional SSDs by stacking NAND flash instead of DRAM. According to Kim, SK hynix is working on standardization of AI-NB with SanDisk, with the alpha version expected to be released around late January 2026. The company also plans to proceed with evaluation and testing once samples become available in 2027.

Read more

• [News] SK hynix, Samsung, and SanDisk Bet on HBF — The Next Battleground in Memory Sector
• [News] Memory Giants SanDisk, SK hynix Unite for HBF Standard, with Samples Expected in 2H26

(Photo credit: SK hynix)