Redefining Scale and Efficiency for the Al Era with Solidigm

Solidigm presents on the current state of the Storage market. A view of what technologies are driving change, the solutions provided to overcome some of the challenges, and a look at how the latest innovations for early 2026 impact the view of storage in the AI pipeline and deployment efforts. Including the scope of high-capacity storage, what is coming, and how the impact of storage is more paramount than ever for AI deployments.

Scott Shadley, representing Solidigm, emphasized the company’s role as a hardware storage provider and highlighted its crucial partnership with software solutions such as VAST Data, represented by Phil Manez. Using a vivid donut analogy, Shadley explained the evolution of storage from traditional hard drives, akin to a “glazed donut with a hole,” to modern SSDs, symbolized by the “maple bar” form factor. The analogy extended to VAST Data as the “jelly” filling the donut, providing essential software solutions for data management and utility. He then delved into the cyclical nature of the semiconductor market, detailing past shifts such as the transition from 2D to 3D NAND and the impact of pandemic-induced hoarding, culminating in the current AI “bubble.” This unprecedented demand, coupled with historical underinvestment in NAND relative to memory, has created significant challenges for storage supply, necessitating long-term agreements and driving the need for Solidigm to innovate beyond building drives.

Solidigm’s strategy for the AI era focuses on delivering both high-performance and high-capacity storage, with products such as the PS1010 for performance and the P5336 (122TB drives) leading in high-capacity shipments. Beyond products, the company is deeply involved in enabling new cooling architectures essential for AI infrastructure. This includes pioneering liquid cold plate designs, contributing to industry standards (SNIA) to ensure vendor compatibility, and validating off-the-shelf products for full-immersion cooling, while addressing practical challenges such as adhesion of stickers in immersion fluids. To further support customers, Solidigm established the AI Central Lab, an independent facility offering remote access to diverse AI architectures, including Hopper, Blackwell, and future Vera Rubin platforms. This lab enables partners and customers to test and optimize solutions, overcoming barriers related to infrastructure availability and cost, and has already demonstrated significant improvements, such as a 27x faster “time to first token” by offloading the KV cache to SSDs, showcasing Solidigm’s deeper involvement in overall AI system functionality.