FMS 2026: Sandisk and SK hynix Advance Global Standardization of High Bandwidth Flash with Release of First OCP Technical Specification - StorageNewsletter

At the 2026 Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) conference, SanDisk and SK Hynix announced the release of the High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) technical specification through the Open Compute Project (OCP), ... Read original →

The release of the High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) technical specification under the Open Compute Project (OCP) signals a major shift in AI inference system architecture, driven by the need for high-bandwidth, low-latency memory close to compute units. Led by SanDisk and SK Hynix with participation from Google and Tenstorrent, this initiative accelerates the integration of HBF with existing technologies like HBM and 3D NAND (e.g., BiCS10), reshaping the storage-stack evolution. From a supply chain perspective, standardization reduces customization costs and enhances interoperability, but raises barriers for legacy Flash vendors such as Nanya and Kioxia. In the competitive landscape, this move may force CPU vendors like AMD and Intel to accelerate their HBM-HBF co-design strategies. Within the next 12 months, early adoption by major AI chipmakers will likely trigger a surge in HBF demand, reinforcing a new ecosystem that prioritizes bandwidth and latency over traditional capacity metrics.