The roll-out comes just 5 days after it acquired a SSD and HDD controller chip maker Link A Media Devices, or LAMD Inc. on June 25, and will open the way for the chipmaker to newly tap into yet uncharted SSD market.
SK Hynix is the world‘s second largest memory chip maker, but has failed to establish its presence so far in worldwide SSD market, because it lacks in the memory controller chip technology, a key building block for the SSD system.
Global SSD market is still in low demand, mainly due to relatively higher price than HDDs, but are more lucrative,
As fabrication costs of NAND flash memory chips are continuously falling, the industry is nearing a cross-over price point where price of SSD match that of HDDs, promising to hit a critical mass.
According to SK Hynix, the 2.5-inch client SSD consists of ONFI synchronous 20nano-geometry NAND flash memory chips, SATA 3 interface and a controller chip, coming in two density options - 128GB and 256GB.
It boasts sequential read speeds of 510MB/s, or megabytes per second and sequential write speeds of 470MB/s, three or four times faster than the traditional HDD.
It also supports multiple management functions, including ‘TRIM’ feature to boost speed by wiping data internally. Its built-in ‘End-to-End Protection’ feature is not only to prevent data loss, but also to reinforces security of the data by using encryption algorithm of 128bit AES(Advanced Encryption Standard) to ensure the security of the data.
“In order to satisfy high standard requirements from customers who are willing to enjoy significantly improved performance of their PCs, SK Hynix has released the high-end SSD products with our high performance NAND Flash,” said Mr. Ji Bum Kim, Head of Worldwide Marketing & Sales Division of SK Hynix.
Added he, “On top of this product, SK Hynix will line up various SSD products and play a main role in the NAND Flash market.”
SK Hynix has been offering samples of mSATA (mini-Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) 32/64/128GB SSDs for PC OEMs since the end of the last year.
The newly launched client SSD has been released in Japan and it will soon be introduced in Korea and the US.
According to market research firm iSuppli, worldwide SSD shipment is expected to hit 46million units this year and then would grow at an annual average growth of 63% through 2016, mainly powered by booming demand from various mobile applications.