Micron's most advanced SSD yet should boost your next business laptop

The Micron 5400 SATA SSD
(Image credit: Micron)

Micron Technology has launched a new solid-state drive (SSD), dubbed the Micron 2550 NVMe SSDm.

The company claims the 2550 is the world’s first SSD to ship using NAND, a type of non-volatile storage technology that does not require power to retain data, with over 200 layers.

The US manufacturer earmarked the new drive for use in mainstream laptops and desktops, claiming it can enable faster, more responsive applications across gaming, consumer, and business client devices. 

What do users get?

Micron claim the new drive will enable sequential read performance of up to 5 gigabytes per second as well as sequential write performance of up to 4 gigabytes per second, which its says is 1.4 and 1.3 times faster than the previous SSD generation, respectively.

In addition, the manufactuer claims that the Micron 2550 SSD's technology, including "predictive cache optimization", can improve users’ experiences.

The current business environment hasn't been the kindest to Micron's NAND manufacturing operation.

The overall NAND manufacturing industry's revenue dropped 24.3% quarter-over-quarter, according to research from market intelligence firm TrendForce.

Micron registered a 26.2% revenue drop to $1.69 billion from Q2 2022 to Q3 2022. 

Wider industry malaise, hasn't stopped many manufacturers from announcing ambituous new NAND products.

South Korean manufacturer SK hynix has annouced new memory chip at the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara.

The new chip, which it anticipates to enter mass production in the first half of 2023 will reportedly boadt the “world’s first 238-layer 512Gb TLC 4D NAND”, snatching the world record awat from Micron for the most layers in a NAND drive. 

Will McCurdy has been writing about technology for over five years. He has a wide range of specialities including cybersecurity, fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, cloud computing, payments, artificial intelligence, retail technology, and venture capital investment. He has previously written for AltFi, FStech, Retail Systems, and National Technology News and is an experienced podcast and webinar host, as well as an avid long-form feature writer.