Kioxia, a leading Japanese memory manufacturer, is working on flash memory products aimed at reducing the heavy reliance of data centers on expensive DRAM memory. As artificial intelligence (AI) workloads grow, they require more memory to process vast amounts of data quickly. To address this, Kioxia is combining advanced NAND flash technology with new interfaces specifically designed for AI systems. These include PCIe 6.0 SSDs and CXL memory expansion technology, which offer faster data transfer speeds and more efficient communication between storage and processors. However, Kioxia has not claimed these products will fully replace DRAM, instead focusing on supplementing it. One of Kioxia’s latest offerings is the GP1 Series PCIe 6.0 NVMe SSDs, designed for high-performance AI environments. These drives enable direct communication between graphics processing units (GPUs) and storage, which could significantly reduce the time it takes to move large amounts of data during complex computations. The use of PCIe 6.0 is particularly notable because it provides much greater bandwidth compared to older versions used in many data center SSDs. This advancement could be crucial for handling the massive data flows required by AI systems. In addition to the GP1 Series, Kioxia is showcasing its CM10 Series enterprise SSDs and NX1 Series data center drives. These products are built with features like liquid cooling support, which helps manage heat in high-performance environments. The CM10 Series uses Kioxia’s tenth-generation BiCS FLASH technology, while the NX1 Series is designed with PCIe 5.0 connectivity and an E1.S form factor, making it suitable for modern data centers that prioritize both performance and thermal efficiency. Kioxia is also developing the XL1 Series, a CXL-compatible memory expansion module based on its XL FLASH technology. This module aims to provide faster memory access speeds by connecting directly to processors through a CXL interface, which uses a PCIe link for data transfer. This approach allows for more efficient memory expansion without relying entirely on DRAM. According to Kioxia, this combination of high-speed NAND and CXL technology can reduce data-read latency to less than one-tenth of conventional NAND products. The XL1 Series is positioned to offer a balance between the performance of DRAM and the lower cost of SSDs, potentially doubling memory capacity while improving performance by 30% when used alongside DRAM. Evaluation units of these new technologies are expected to be delivered to technology partners in August 2026, allowing potential customers to test the products. Kioxia will also present and demonstrate these technologies at the FMS 2026 conference in Santa Clara, California. The company’s overall strategy is to enhance existing AI server memory configurations by supplementing DRAM rather than replacing it entirely, recognizing that NAND flash, while faster than before, is still inherently slower than DRAM for latency-sensitive applications.