A memory gap gets a proposed standard

SK hynix and SanDisk have introduced the first specification for High Bandwidth Flash, or HBF, a storage technology positioned between HBM and SSDs. HBM, short for High Bandwidth Memory, is very fast but costly and capacity-constrained; SSDs offer far more capacity but lower bandwidth. HBF is designed to bring NAND flash closer to memory-class performance.

Capacity and bandwidth targets

The specification follows a standardization effort that began last August and an alliance formed in February. It defines two configurations using 8-layer and 16-layer stacked NAND dies, with capacity reaching up to 512GB. Bandwidth is organized into three grades, from roughly 0.4TB/s to 3.0TB/s, giving system designers multiple performance tiers. NAND is the non-volatile flash technology widely used in SSDs, meaning data can remain stored without power.

Market view

AI servers increasingly need storage that can feed accelerators quickly without sacrificing capacity. If HBF gains broader vendor support, it could become a practical bridge between premium HBM and conventional SSD-based storage.