SK hynix PCB01 (SK hynix)

SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chip-maker by revenue, said Friday it had successfully developed the industry's highest performancesolid state drive chip that can significantly enhance the process speed in on-device artificial intelligence.

The product, dubbed PCB01, comes with the capabilities of sequential read and write speeds of 14 gigabyte and 12GB per second, respectively, bringing the performance of an SSD to a level unseen before, SK hynix said.

The speeds allow the operation of a large language model for AI training and inference, in a second.

The product also improves power efficiency by more than 30 percent compared with the previous generation, enhancing the stability of large-scale AI computing tasks.

"We will work toward enhancing our leadership as the global top AI memory provider also in the NAND solution space by successfully completing the customer validation and mass production of PCB01, which will be in the limelight," Ahn Hyun, the head of the N-S Committee at SK hynix said.

Numerous global providers of CPUs for on-device AI PCs are requesting collaboration for the compatibility validation process, Ahn said.

The validation process with a global PC customer is underway, and the chipmaker plans to mass produce and start shipping the products to both corporate and general customers this year, the company said.

To bring innovation in performance and data processing speed, SK hynix said it has adopted the fifth generation of the eight-channel Peripheral Component Interconnect Express technology for the first time in the industry.

The product is also equipped with the capability to protect personal data. SK hynix engineers built the root of trust, a security solution, in the PCB01 to prevent external cybersecurity attacks and information forging and falsification while protecting a user’s password, the chipmaker added.

The company said it plans to launch PCB01 in three capacities -- 512GB, 1 terabyte, and 2TB.