Tech giant Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it has started mass producing a compact solid-state drive that is three times faster -- but much smaller in size -- than the average SSD product.

The new storage product, dubbed the Nonvolatile Memory Express PCle SSD, or NVMe SSD for short, features an extremely compact package containing all essential SSD components, including NAND flash memory, DRAM and controller, while delivering outstanding performance, according to the tech firm.


The compact SSD measures 20 millimeters by 16 millimeters by 1.5 millimeters (smaller than a 100-won coin) and weighs about 1 gram, compared to an American dime which weighs 2.3 grams. The SSD is to be used for next-generation PCs and ultra-slim notebook PCs for the firm’s partner companies, Samsung said.

“The introduction of this small-scale SSD will help global PC companies to make timely launches of slimmer, more stylish computing devices, while offering consumers a more satisfactory computing environment,” said Lee Jung-bae, senior vice president of Samsung’s memory product planning and application engineering team.

The company did not unveil its customers, but Apple and Sony, two powerhouses in the global laptop sector, are rumored to have the Samsung SSD installed on their respective products.

The new SSD utilizes the “single ball grid array package,” which incorporates NAND flash memory, DRAM and controller chips in one package.

A total of 18 vertical NAND flash memory, DRAM and controller chips are installed inside the SSD.

The SSD, a hundredth of a 2.5-inch hard disk drive in weight, allows users to transfer a 5-gigabyte full HD movie in about three seconds and download it in about six seconds.

The SSD is available in 128 gigabytes, 256 gigabytes and 512 gigabytes.

Samsung has been continuing its push to take the lead in the emerging global SSD market since 2013, releasing a series of SSD products.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)