According to digitimes, Phison and Seagate have launched strategic cooperation, and 2023 will enter the first year of growth in enterprise-level SSD shipments. The main products will first target large-capacity SSDs such as 8TB and 16TB and are expected to be shipped in the second and third quarters.
As the price of NAND Flash plummets, although the cost of large-capacity SSD is still higher than that of HDD, it gradually begins to compete with HDD. In the future, SSD will be used for instant storage and reading of hot data (Hot Data, instant access) applications, and The ASP contribution of high-capacity enterprise-level SSD is high. Taking 8TB and 16TB SSD as an example, the price is about 1000~2000 US dollars, which is regarded by suppliers as a new growth path to contribute revenue and profit.
According to different system architectures, a server often needs to be equipped with hundreds of enterprise-level SSDs, consuming a huge amount of NAND Flash. The market expects that in 2023, the storage capacity of servers equipped with NAND on a single machine is expected to increase by 20%, and the proportion of bits in the overall demand will exceed 25~26%, and may even surpass mobile phones to become the largest application market.
Phison and Seagate announced that they will become strategic partners in the second quarter of 2022, and will launch sample certification after the product is released in the third quarter. According to the process, the verification will take more than 3 to 6 months. After the product verification is completed, it is expected to be shipped successively.
Phison has previously established a system integration and technology research and development center (SIE) in Broomfield, the United States, to get close to local enterprise-level SSD customers and partners, and to demonstrate its determination to enter the enterprise-level storage first-level battlefield.
According to market estimates, through Phison’s supply of SSD modules, combined with Seagate’s sales channels and complete machine customers, Phison’s enterprise-level SSDs will account for 5-10% in 2023.
Phison’s 2022 annual revenue will reach NT$60.256 billion (currently approximately RMB 13.317 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 3.7%, the second-highest record over the years. Among them, the total shipments of PCIe SSD control chips for the whole year of 2022 will increase by more than 14% year-on-year, and the total shipments of industrial-standard control chips will increase by 33% year-on-year, which also hit a record high for the same period in history.
