Microsoft Z1000: Engineering sample of an SSD hints at a broad portfolio

Microsoft has apparently started manufacturing SSDs for its own products. This is shown by an engineering sample of the Microsoft Z1000, leaked images of which are now making the rounds. This is apparently a little older, but should indicate a broad portfolio.

Microsoft Z1000: SSD revealed in leak

Microsoft SSDs are not yet a thing, but could possibly become one soon. At least that’s what the leaked Microsoft Z1000, which X/Twitter user yuuki_ans has now published images and information about, suggests.

These show the mysterious M.2 SSD in detail, although some information such as serial and product numbers have been censored. However, the images and information reveal some interesting facts about the SSD.

It has a capacity of 960 gigabytes and uses components from various manufacturers. The NAND flash comes from Toshiba, the DDR4 RAM cache from Micron and the controller from CNEX Labs. The latter also indicates that the Microsoft Z1000 is likely to be a data center SSD, as CNEX Labs specializes in precisely these products.

This is also supported by the form factor, because according to yuuki_ans, the Z1000 comes in the M.2-22110 format and is therefore significantly longer than the M.2-2280 or M.2-2230 variants that are normally found in PCs and notebooks in the end customer segment.

The SSD in the leaked images is also an engineering sample, i.e. a version of the hardware intended for developers. The printed production date is also interesting, as the Microsoft Z1000 shown is apparently said to have been manufactured on May 18, 2020. As PCIe 5.0 was not yet an issue at the time, the storage solution is likely to be connected via PCIe 4.0.

What is also interesting is what cannot be seen in the images. Several unused spaces on the board indicate that the SSD could also be offered in larger versions with 2 TB or even 4 TB of storage – at least in theory.

Whether Microsoft might already be using the SSD in its own data centers is just as unknown as whether further SSDs – perhaps even for end customers – are planned.