Kioxia Reportedly Plans to Replace Some DRAM with Upgraded NAND

According to media reports, Kioxia recently held a technical briefing on memory-related technologies and plans to strengthen ties with major U.S. technology firms and fend off growing competition from Chinese manufacturers. Katsuki Matsumatsu, Kioxia's head of memory technology, stated that NAND Flash demand is growing at an unprecedented pace.

The report noted that Kioxia introduced the CXL module designed specifically for AI workloads, which can enhance NAND processing speeds, and it will soon begin accepting performance evaluations from customers.

AI servers incorporate multiple types of memory products. DRAM is used for temporary data storage, offering faster data read speeds than NAND, and works alongside the CPU for compute processing. However, DRAM capacity is not easy to expand, making it difficult to meet the growing demands of AI. Its higher price compared to NAND Flash has also become a bottleneck hindering the accelerated deployment of AI data centers.

According to the report, Kioxia plans to improve NAND Flash processing speeds through CXL modules to replace some DRAM. The CXL modules combine high-speed NAND Flash with controller components, reducing data readout time to less than one-tenth that of conventional products, and their faster read performance brings them closer to DRAM in capability. Kioxia noted that replacing some DRAM in a system with CXL modules could double memory capacity and boost performance by 30%.