Huawei just released a new storage device designed for AI inference and data centers with capacities of 61.44TB and 122.88TB; a 245TB variant is expected to arrive in the future. What made these SSDs interesting, though, was not their massive capacities but the technology behind them. Since the company cannot acquire high-layer-count 3D NAND chips from foreign suppliers needed for high-capacity storage, it instead uses Die-on-Board (DoB) packaging to mount more NAND dies directly on the PCB. Blocks & Files reported that this allowed the company to cram more NAND dies without stacking, thereby increasing density to circumvent BGA/TSOP packaging limits.
Samsung already announced 3D NAND with more than 400 layers, but these chips use American technology that is off-limits to Huawei. The U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei to its Entity List in 2019, effectively cutting off the company from U.S.-origin technology. Aside from making it difficult, if not impossible, to buy American hardware, software, and IP, it also barred the company from accessing any technology based on or made with U.S. input. So, because the most advanced 3D NAND chips use American technology, even non-U.S. companies making them, like Samsung or SK hynix, cannot sell these chips to Huawei.
