Just in time for Black Friday? Samsung may be preparing to launch the successor to the 990 Pro: the PM9E1 SSD is the first PCIe 5.0 SSD, but it is not intended for end users
Samsung recently announced that its PM9E1 NVMe Gen 5 SSD has entered mass production. The initial press release was retracted shortly after publication, but the details were later republished by TechPowerUp.
The PM9E1 is the successor to the PM9A1 SSD, which was launched in 2021, and brings notable improvements in speed, capacity and energy efficiency.
The SSD appears to be aimed primarily at enterprise customers and those working with AI-driven workloads, offering improved storage solutions for data-heavy applications.
Great capabilities
The PM9E1 SSD doubles both the read and write speeds of its predecessor, delivering 14.5 GB/s read and 13 GB/s write speeds. This is a significant improvement over the PM9A1’s 7 GB/s read speeds and 5.2 GB/s write speeds. According to Samsung, the PM9E1 is built with an internal 5nm controller and eighth-generation V-NAND (V8) technology, allowing it to offer better performance and efficiency.
The drive will be available in four capacities – 512GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB – with the larger models aimed at users who need high-performance storage for AI-generated content, gaming and high-resolution video processing. The 4TB option is primarily intended for demanding business applications and provides enough space for processing large data sets and real-time AI tasks.
In addition to the faster speed, the PM9E1 is 50% more power efficient than its predecessor, which Samsung says will extend battery life, making it ideal for on-device AI applications. The SSD also features security enhancements including Device Authentication and Firmware Tampering Attestation, which are delivered via the updated SPDM version 1.2 protocol. These features help protect against supply chain attacks and ensure the device firmware remains intact during the manufacturing and distribution process.
“Our PM9E1, integrated with a 5nm controller, delivers industry-leading energy efficiency and maximum performance, validated by our key partners,” said YongCheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning at Samsung. “In the rapidly growing AI era on devices, Samsung’s PM9E1 will provide a robust foundation for global customers to effectively plan their AI portfolios.”
Although the initial press release was withdrawn without warning and there is no confirmed price or release date, it is clear that Samsung is positioning the PM9E1 as a key component for enterprise and AI-driven applications. More details on availability will hopefully be made available soon.
