Specification Finalized Six Months After Consortium Launch, Supporting Up to 512GB and 3.0TB/s 

SK Hynix has jointly unveiled with SanDisk the first standard specification for HBF (High Bandwidth Flash) through OCP (Open Compute Project). As a new memory tier bridging HBM and SSD, it was presented as a technology that can simultaneously secure bandwidth and capacity scalability, offering a solution to data processing bottlenecks arising from the proliferation of AI inference.

SK Hynix made this announcement on the occasion of the opening of 'FMS (Future of Memory and Storage) 2026' (local time, April 6) held in Santa Clara, California on the 5th.

This specification is the first result, coming approximately six months after beginning standardization cooperation with SanDisk last August and launching the consortium in February of this year.

Google and TensorTorrent have also joined the consortium, supporting ecosystem expansion.

This specification defined maximum capacity of 512GB based on two configurations stacking NAND dies in either 8-layer or 16-layer arrangements.

Bandwidth is categorized into three grades (Grade 1-3), enabling implementation from approximately 0.4TB/s to 3.0TB/s.

The specification adopted UCIe (Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express), an industry standard, for processor connectivity, establishing a flexible interoperability foundation with heterogeneous processors such as GPUs and CPUs.

The specification also includes △connection interfaces and electrical characteristics △die stack process reliability and packaging guidelines △software usage guidelines for data input/output.

On the opening day of FMS, Kim Cheon-sung, head of Solution Development Division at SK Hynix, and Kang Wook-sung, Next-Generation Product Planning Manager, will jointly keynote, presenting the direction for implementing next-generation AI infrastructure based on 'Tiered Memory.'

On the 6th, Lim Ui-cheol, Solution AT Manager at SK Hynix, Xiaowei Ma, researcher at Google DeepMind, and Rajiv Naga Viraba, Vice President at SanDisk, will conduct a panel discussion on the theme 'Breaking the Memory Wall with HBF.'

In the exhibition booth, the wafer and products of the 10th-generation (V10) 375-layer 4D NAND being developed by SK Hynix will be unveiled for the first time.

Performance per watt has been increased 2.5 times compared to the previous generation, and the company stated it plans to commence mass production of high-performance, high-capacity eSSD based on this from early next year.

Kim Cheon-sung, Division Manager, said "Through HBF, we will contribute to implementing a new architecture that expands the boundary between memory and storage and enhances overall system efficiency."