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Silicon Motion introduced a new Gen5 SSD controller at Computex 2025 this week. The SMI SM2504XT is a Gen5 4-channel DRAMless SSD controller built on the TSMC 6nm process and capable of speeds up to 3600MT/s.
This controller is capable of up to 11.5GB/s read and 11GB/s write with 1.7 million read and up to 2 million write IOPS. This controller supports 3D TLC and QLC NAND, AES 256-bit hardware encryption, along with TCG Opal 2.0.
Rather unique is that this SSD, fully intended for the laptop and AI environment, supports the Separate Command Architecture (SCA) which can result in up to 15% lower latency sequential read speed. The key feature of the SM2504XT is that it will provide 11GB/s speeds at just over 4 watts…. which makes this one of the coolest laptop Gen5 solutions soon to be available.
Next up, we have what has become one of the quickest success stories in the SSD world in some time, the SMI SM2508 8-channel NVMe SSD controller.
We have already reviewed this controller in a number of SSD reviews, to include an original SMI SM2508 Engineering Sample Review, newly released Kingston Fury Renegade G5, as well as our Predator GM9000 Gen5 SSD Review. Trust me when I tell you that there are more on the way.
The SM2508 is capable of up to 14GB/s read and write speeds with up to 2 million read and write IOPS, performance which might be slightly less in an Intel PC system vice AMD. Our evaluations have reached 14GB/s read and 13GB/s write with just under 2 million IOPS on our Intel Test Bench. Check out the companies already standing behind SMI and their SM2508 SSD controller:
That Crucial T710 was just announced this week as well as a few other SSDs on this board. We can comfortably say that at least four others are on their way to the office as we type this in Taipei.
This photo above depicts the Silicon Motion SM2324 which is a single chip design that provides USB 4.0 support with power delivery. It provides up to 4GB/s read and write speeds and most might see this design within portable SSDs. It supports TLC and QLC NAND up to 32TB and, as this design is single chip, we just may see lower prices on these devices due to lesser BOM (bill of materials) cost.
From a personal standpoint, we believe the success of USB4 may be one of the best advances with respect to flash media in some time as we see the speeds, not only in portable SSDs, but also in portable media such as CFExpress cards.
Lastly, I would like to thank Silicon Motion for a great longstanding relationship to which so many friendships are renewed year after year. When I first started in the industry too long ago to state, an industry peer made no hesitation in telling me that personal relationships had no place in business. I told him he was wrong. Independent journalism could withstand the simple fact that friendships will be formed and reputable business will build on constructive thoughts as they would compliments. I prefer this side of things. One of the best nights out in Taipei yet; thank you Silicon Motion!
