What will a post-NVMe SSD world look like?

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Key findings

  • Existing packaging technology will continue to improve, especially V-NAND and BGA.
  • NVMe-over-Fabrics will revolutionize server storage by enabling shared NVMe storage over longer distances.
  • NVMe-over-CXL could replace consumer SSDs and offer significantly higher bandwidth and performance.



Who doesn't love fast storage? In the “old days” we had hard drives with magnetic platters and no one complained because we had no alternative. However, SATA SSDs have completely redefined storage speeds for the masses, offering up to three times the performance of HDDs. Then came NVMe SSDs, which pushed things into the stratosphere, being almost 30 times faster than SATA SSDs (with the best being PCIe 5.0 SSDs).

It's natural to wonder what's next in SSD technology. It turns out that there are already several promising developments that could provide a glimpse into the future of SSDs.


The Seagate Game Drive PS5 SSD lies slightly tilted on its side.

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The existing packaging technology will be further improved

V-NAND and BGA for the win

NAND is the flash memory used in SSDs that stores all your valuable data. When manufacturers started packing more and more NAND cells close together to increase storage capacity in the same physical size, they found that NAND behaved strangely and lost its effectiveness. So they developed V-NAND, or vertical NAND (or 3D NAND), to stack memory cells on top of each other, increasing storage density without making larger SSDs.


Another packaging technology ideal for industrial and embedded use cases is Ball Grid Array (BGA), which results in extremely small SSDs in devices where space is at a premium. Many ultra-thin notebooks and Apple devices already use BGA SSDs, which are really just another form factor for NVMe SSDs. Vertically stacked NAND and BGA SSDs will continue to improve and remain relevant for many years to come.

Corsair MP600 Core Mini SSD from above.

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NVMe-over-Fabrics revolutionizes server storage

Switch to NVMe instead of PCIe


The existing NVMe SSDs we put in M.2 slots are NVMe-over-PCIe SSDs because they use the PCIe interface to communicate with the rest of the computer. Enterprise hardware already uses what's called NVMe-oF or NVMe-over-Fabrics, where PCIe is replaced by network interfaces like Ethernet, InfiniBand, fiber optic, TCP/IP, and more. This allows an entire network to access the shared NVMe storage over longer distances.

NVMe-over-PCIe is usually limited to a single machine or host, while NVMe-oF allows multiple hosts to benefit from the higher speed and lower latency of the NVMe storage pool. The latency overhead is not an issue here, as only a few microseconds are added to the overall performance. However, the benefits are huge – scalability, cost and security.

The Aiffro NAS with four SSDs plugged in

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NVME-over-CXL could replace consumer SSDs

NVMe-oC seems to be the next big trend

Samsung logo on the building

Source: Samsung

CXL, or Compute Express Link, is a relatively new communication standard built over the PCIe interface and is great for high-speed storage. Instead of using the regular PCIe bus, NVMe-over-CXL (NVMe-oC) SSDs use the CXL interface, a shared connection between multiple CXL-compatible devices such as CPUs and GPUs. Using a separate physical connector to connect to the shared CXL interface, an NVMe-oC SSD can access higher bandwidth and a shared storage pool.


The latest CXL 3.0 interface supports up to 64 GT/s per lane, four times that of PCIe 5.0. In addition, because CXL devices share memory, the need for data transfers over the link is significantly reduced, improving performance. Companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix have already developed CXL DRAM for use in enterprise solutions, and in time this technology could also find its way into consumer SSDs.

MSI SSD-5

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What is planned for gaming SSDs?

The future of SSD technology looks exciting, but what does it hold for gaming SSDs? Will the benefits of higher bandwidth and lower latency lead to more responsive games? Technologies like DirectStorage are key to fully leveraging high-speed NVMe and other SSDs of the future. If game developers are able to optimize games from the ground up for next-generation SSDs, gamers can really benefit from the sophisticated connection interfaces and performance improvements that are on the horizon.


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