- Dell packs nearly 10 PB of flash storage into a compact 2U server
- KIOXIA’s massive SSDs eliminated the need for seven additional storage servers
- Complete rack setup could cost more than $75 million
Dell Technologies has unveiled a new server configuration that packs an astonishing 9.8 PB of flash storage into a standard 2U chassis.
The PowerEdge R7725xd achieves this density by combining 40 x 245.76 terabyte SSDs from KIOXIA’s LC9 series with AMD EPYC processors.
A comparable configuration using conventional 30.72 TB drives would require seven additional servers and consume approximately eight times more power.
How the server achieves such extreme storage density
KIOXIA LC9 Series drives are available in a specialized E3.L form factor that allows 40 of them to fit into a single 2U chassis.
Each drive offers up to 245.76 TB of flash storage with PCIe 5.0 performance for demanding AI data pipelines.
“The combination of Dell PowerEdge R7725xd server and KIOXIA LC9 Series enterprise SSD is not just about high density,” said Akihiro Kimura, Chief Technology Officer at KIOXIA Corporation. “It’s a shift in how we design AI infrastructure.”
The system supports up to five 400 gigabit per second network interface cards, allowing users to populate and move data through pipelines more efficiently.
This allows organizations to scale their AI infrastructure without increasing their physical footprint or increasing their overall energy consumption.
What this means for the AI data center economy
Arun Narayanan, senior vice president of Dell Technologies, said the server provides the storage density and power efficiency customers need to scale AI infrastructure without sacrificing performance.
Flexible, air-cooled storage configurations are designed to complement GPU-enabled servers, supporting AI data management and model training throughout the AI lifecycle.
A single rack using these servers could theoretically exceed 200 PB of flash storage, although the cost would be substantial.
At approximately $15,000 per 245.76 TB disk, a 200 PB configuration would require approximately 815 disks, costing approximately $12.2 million.
Building a full rack with servers, networking and cooling would likely bring the total to $75 million or more.
It remains an open question whether the high cost of these high-density drives is relevant for every organization.
For hyperscale cloud providers and large AI labs with massive data ingestion needs, the math likely leans toward density rather than cost per terabyte.
However, for small businesses, traditional 30.72TB drives may still offer better value.
Dell and KIOXIA have raised the bar for what is possible in a 2U server, and the AI data center of the future will be built on density.
The 9.8 PB milestone is not the end of the road, but it is a sign of a future where storage capacity will no longer be the bottleneck to AI innovation.
The technology is real, the density is unprecedented, and the implications for AI data centers are profound, even if the price makes most IT managers wince.
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