Bridging the Storage Gap Between HBM and SSD: SK Hynix and SanDisk Unveil First-Ever HBF Standard, Sample Units to Launch in First Half of 2027

South Korean memory giant SK Hynix announced on Tuesday (April 4) that it has jointly unveiled the first set of standard specifications for the next-generation memory technology 'High Bandwidth Flash' (HBF) with U.S. NAND leader SanDisk, formally establishing a new storage tier for AI and high-performance computing.

Positioned between HBM and solid-state drives (SSDs), HBF combines the ultra-high-speed data transfer capabilities of HBM with the high-capacity advantages of NAND architecture, positioning itself as one of the key technologies to overcome the 'memory wall' problem in AI training and inference processes.

This specification release marks the first major outcome since the two companies launched their collaboration in August last year and officially established the HBF Alliance in February this year—a timeline of approximately six months.

According to the specifications, HBF will offer two physical configurations: utilizing 8-layer and 16-layer NAND chip stacking, with maximum capacities reaching up to 512GB.

In terms of performance, bandwidth is defined across three grades (Grade 1 to Grade 3), covering data transfer rates from approximately 0.4TB/s to 3.0TB/s—sufficient to meet diverse demands ranging from edge AI to large-scale data centers.

Industry analysts point out that as AI model parameters surge exponentially, existing DRAM and HBM face bottlenecks in both capacity and cost. By leveraging NAND to achieve low-cost, high-density storage while maintaining near-memory access speeds, HBF is poised to reshape server storage architectures.

SK Hynix and SanDisk are also calling on more supply chain partners to join the alliance and accelerate ecosystem formation.

The market believes that the establishment of the HBF standard will further solidify SK Hynix’s technological leadership in the AI storage domain, while opening a new battlefield for SanDisk in the enterprise-grade NAND market.

With the specifications now finalized, the first batch of HBF sample units is expected to launch in the first half of 2027, with gradual integration into mainstream AI servers beginning in 2027.