KIOXIA today announced the KIOXIA EG7 Series solid state drives, the company’s first client solution to adopt BiCS FLASH generation 8 QLC (quadruple-level cell) technology. The new DRAM-less SSDs are designed to provide affordable storage for value-oriented slim laptops, commercial notebooks, and consumer desktops. These are the types of SSDs we often would expect to find in Project TinyMiniMicro and other small systems we review.
Kioxia EG7 Series Announced for PC OEMs
The EG7 Series utilizes Kioxia’s BiCS FLASH generation 8 with CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology to achieve higher bit density.
The drives deliver sequential read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 6,200 MB/s, matching the performance of TLC-based solutions like the BG7 Series while reducing cost per GB.
The new lineup includes M.2 form factors Type 2230, Type 2242, and Type 2280. The addition of the 2242 size is notable as we have seen more devices adopt this intermediate length in compact systems.
The drives are PCIe 4.0 compliant and support the NVMe 2.0d specification. Random read and write performance reaches up to 1,000,000 IOPS, depending on capacity.
| Specification | 512 GB | 1024 GB | 2048 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sequential Read | 6,400 MB/s | 7,000 MB/s | 7,000 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 5,000 MB/s | 6,000 MB/s | 6,200 MB/s |
| Random Read | 550,000 IOPS | 850,000 IOPS | 1,000,000 IOPS |
| Random Write | 850,000 IOPS | 950,000 IOPS | 1,000,000 IOPS |
Like the BG series, the EG7 is a DRAM-less design using Host Memory Buffer (HMB) technology. This approach allocates a portion of system memory to maintain performance while reducing component costs and power consumption. Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) options based on TCG Opal 2.0 are available for security-conscious deployments.
Final Words
The KIOXIA EG7 series is currently sampling with PC OEM customers, with systems expected to ship in Q2 2026. Pricing has not been announced, but the QLC-based design should enable more affordable configurations in value-oriented laptops and desktops. As with other DRAM-less SSDs in this segment, we expect the EG7 to be primarily deployed in OEM systems rather than sold directly to consumers. We will need to get a review unit in hand to see how the drive performs in real-world workloads before drawing conclusions about its place in the market.
