Category: Press Releases

August 12, 2021

• 2021

Company takes leadership role in IC development of next-generation platforms with introduction of PS7101 Redriver 

San Jose, Calif. August 11, 2021 –Phison Electronics Corp. (TPEX: 8299), a global leader in NAND flash controller integrated circuits and storage solutions, today entered into the high-speed interface IC market with the introduction of its PS7101, a PCIe 5.0 Redriver IC with high gain and high linearity, which solves the signal attenuation caused by the transmission process on the motherboard or riser card in the PCs and Servers. 

Demand for the PCIe high-speed interface has significantly increased with the continuous development of semiconductor technology. PCIe 5.0 has quadrupled bandwidth over the previous standard in just a few years, with PCIe 6.0 expected to debut soon. Although the higher data rate of the chipset offers convenience to users, the development and design of the entire system has become increasingly more difficult. Specifically, the attenuation and the interference of noise in the motherboard eventually makes the signal between the CPU chip and the endpoints unable to be accurately transmitted and can even cause compatibility problems. 

Phison’s Redriver IC PS7101 effectively reduces the compatibility problems that may occur when connecting between the CPU and the endpoints. The company’s Flip-Chip package design further reduces the signal reflection and crosstalk interference caused by the IC package and improves the ability of heat dissipation. PS7101 provides multi-band independent compensation, which can be easily adapted to different cable or PCB materials, allowing development partners the ability to tune their electrical signals to achieve the best compensation for loss. 

In addition, Phison provides an exclusive patented Auto Tuning Tools. This package of tools can automatically set different gain parameters in the Redriver for the customer’s development environment, collect the results of the signal, and optimize with AI technology to find the best parameters for the corresponding environment. The Auto Tuning Tools allow developers to quickly adjust to find the best Redriver gain parameters that suit their motherboard environment.

Phison PCIe 5.0 Redriver IC PS7101 Test Results

As major CPU and motherboard chipset manufacturers continue to push the speed of PCIe to the limit, supporting technologies need to keep up to fulfill the ecosystem. Typically, this is achieved through huge investments and uncertainty in product compatibility. Phison is committed to the research and development of high-speed transmission interface technology used in its broad product portfolio in consumer, enterprise, gaming, automotive and industrial NAND storage products. 

After listening to our customers’ needs, Phison designed the IC specifications, invested in IC development, completed PS7101 engineering samples, and began production in a record 8 months. The company conducted rigorous tests on ICs to make sure that the features required by each IC meet the requirements of the specifications, and at the same time, ensured compatibility with the complex and diverse environment of transmission between different CPU chips and various PCIe 5.0 devices. 

“We are one of the few ASIC companies that has the team and capabilities of developing PCIe 5.0 SerDes PHY IP,” said K.S.Pua, chairman and CEO of Phison. “Our high-speed interface engineering team has accumulated many years of experience from the development of IC technology for USB, SATA and UFS interfaces to the successful product launch of the world’s first PCIe 4.0 SSD with the PCIe4.0 PHY developed in-house. Furthermore, to improve compatibility, analyze signal and simulate the proposed system, Phison invested heavily in our R&D activities and has established an advanced high-speed signal analysis laboratory. We have done all this to build a solid foundation for Phison to enter the high-speed interface IC market and develop the latest generation of PCIe 5.0 Redriver IC.” 

Besides being a leading supplier of NAND Flash controller ICs, the introduction of PS7101 is an important step to becoming a technology leader in the high-speed interface IC market. As part of Phison’s market strategy, the company is currently developing a PCIe 5.0 Retimer IC to suit different product environments in addition to the PCIe 5.0 Redriver IC. With two high-speed interface IC market products, Phison allows customers to consider both cost and signal optimization as their best choice in the future. 

Phison is not only a supplier of PCIe 5.0 Redriver and Retimer IC, but also a partner who strongly supports PCIe 5.0 signal system analysis, simulation and compatibility issues. With a solid development experience, team and equipment in the field of high-speed interface, the company’s goal is to provide customers with complete support solutions to solve technical problems encountered in the development process. Phison is also cooperating with major CPU chip manufacturers in the development of new products, making high-speed interface technology more widely used on every platform as CPU chip companies are actively developing their next-generation platforms.

Category: Press Releases

May 25, 2021

• 2021

Reference design and new firmware more than doubles the OEM drive’s specifications in all performance and endurance categories

San Jose, Calif. May 25th, 2021 – Phison Electronics Corp. (TPEX: 8299), a global leader in NAND flash controller integrated circuits and storage solutions, today announces shipping of its PS5018-E18 PCIe Gen4 controllers to manufacturer partners with new 176-layer replacement gate NAND. 

The new E18 paired with 176-layer fills the crucial role in the Phison product stack as the highest performing E18 to date. The potent combination delivers up to 7,400 MB/s sequential reads and 7,000 MB/s sequential writes. 

The largest gains arrive in random read latency where the new premium tier shows a 35% performance increase over previous models at low queue depth improving user experience in system responsiveness. The new E18 delivers the best game load times of any consumer SSD in its class.

“We worked closely with our technology partners to deliver a premium product to dominate the game of game load times. E18 combined with industry leading 176-layer media maximizes the PCIe Gen4 bus delivering overpowering performance that you feel in the user experience,” said Michael Wu, President and GM of Phison Electronics US. 

The 176-layer replacement gate architecture NAND combines charge traps with a CMOS-under-array (CuA) design. The flash has an approximate 30% smaller die size compared to previous generation 96-layer NAND and has a 35% increase in read and write performance. 

Today, reviewers from renowned third-party test sites will unleash the full performance of the PS5018-E18 paired with leading NAND manufacturer’s 176-layer memory that utilizes a 1600MT/s bus to set new performance world records. 

Phison designed the E18 on the efficient TSMC 12nm process node with proprietary CoXProcessor 2.0 technology. This provides SSD manufacturers with a state-of-the-art controller solution to build highly optimized products. E18 delivers on the promise of a 1600MT/s media bus to deliver the best user experience for both high-performance desktops and newly introduced PCIe Gen4 notebooks. 

Demanding users looking for the highest performance regardless of platform will find it with the new Phison E18 paired with 176-layer memory. 

Phison will display its new E18-based products at the Computex virtual trade show with an expected 42,000 attendees June 1 through June 5^th, 2021. 

Check out Phison’s virtual booth for Computex: www.phison.com/computex2021 (Go live on 5/31)

Category: Press Releases

May 18, 2021

• 2021

San Jose, Calif., May 18, 2021 - Phison Electronics Corp. (TPEX: 8299), a global leader in NAND flash controllers and a complete line of storage solutions, and Cigent® Technology, Inc., the leader in embedded cybersecurity technology, today unveiled design details behind the partnership that has delivered the industry’s first and only line of self-defending storage devices with cybersecurity built into the firmware itself to protect against ransomware, data theft and malicious insider theft.

Phison and Cigent Partnership Sets New Standard in Cybersecurity with           Self-Defending Flash Storage Drives

Phison’s innovative and robust NAND flash solutions support a broad range of applications including embedded, consumer, enterprise and automotive. The Phison Crypto-SSD™ is a line of TCG enabled Self-Encrypting Drives that are designed to pass FIPS 140-3 Level 2 certification. Phison is committed to data security which helps to protect business and government users against loss or theft. Phison’s collaboration with Cigent expands the E12 Crypto-SSD security architecture to add additional compute capabilities, attack detectors and sensors directly on the drive. Together with Cigent, Phison has created a product that raises the bar of data security to a whole new level. 

Cigent Secure SSD™ drives, originally developed for U.S. government and military use, are the world’s first commercially available cyber-secure SSDs. Cigent’s K2 and Denali Secure SSDs integrate multi-patented firmware-based cyber security features into Phison’s PCIe NVMe controller firmware. This firmware integration places active protection as close to the data as possible - inside the storage device and beneath the software, BIOS, and the operating system layers. Cigent Secure SSDs detect and repel ransomware attacks, automatically encrypt and hide sensitive files when a threat is detected and include “safe rooms” that makes data fully invisible to any attacker. 

"As the world’s first and only self-defending solid-state storage devices, the Cigent Secure SSD family is a true breakthrough that challenges conventional thinking about data security," said Michael Wu, President and GM of Phison Electronics US. "Combining Cigent’s pioneering development of software and firmware-based security solutions with Phison’s leading expertise in providing highly customized secure SSD platforms ensures end-users can trust that their data remains fully available and free from the effects of ransomware or other malicious intrusions." 

“The Cigent Secure SSD product family was developed by Cigent’s team of experts in data recovery and cybersecurity working in close cooperation with the cutting-edge storage experts at Phison. This combined team developed holistic data protection solutions with security built-in, making it virtually impossible for critical data and applications to be accessed from unauthorized sources,” said Greg Scasny, CTO of Cigent. “Software-only security is often easily bypassed, but our multi-patented, multi-layered self-defending storage is able to make critical data completely inaccessible and literally invisible to adversaries, giving customers peace of mind that their sensitive data and digital assets are safely stored and protected.” 

Denali and K2 combine embedded firmware features such as ransomware detection and response working in conjunction with Cigent’s D³E® for Windows®-based agent to protect data at all times. D³E adds a layer of seamless Zero Trust multi-factor authentication to any file, protecting data from any threat. 

When Phison’s E12 Crypto-SSD is paired with paired D³E, the collaborative cybersecurity solution relies on machine learning, deception detection, and a family of threat sensors to identify security anomalies and actively respond with integrated data defense for industry-leading protection. Data can be stored in threat-aware safe rooms that cease to exist from the operating system’s point of view during an attempt to ransom or steal data. Cigent’s innovative Dual Mode feature allows for private/secure and non-private storage partitions that are independent and invisible to one another and adversaries. 

Cigent’s K2 Secure SSD and D³E software are both available now. The Denali Secure SSD with added machine learning-based data protection will be available in Summer 2021. Drives can be installed as primary internal Windows PC storage, as secondary internal storage (such as in a desktop tower), or as external USB-connected media.

Category: Press Releases

May 12, 2021

• 2021

Phison Electronics has been committed to public welfare and caring for disadvantaged groups for a long time. The 2021 shareholders meeting specially selected LSY's japonica rice (蓮心園庇護農場無毒蓬萊米) as a gift to shareholders. The gift of LSY's japonica rice is not only practical and environmentally friendly, but also represents Phison’s implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR). 

The "LSY Social Welfare Charity Foundation (蓮心園社會福利慈善事業基金會)" in Baihe, Tainan has been established for more than 20 years, focusing on improving the growth of slow children. The care of each slow child is a touching story. In 2014, the LSY sheltered farm (蓮心園庇護農場) was established, with a farm manager, agricultural technicians and employment attendants to guide sheltered employees to promote agricultural work.

Phison presented LSY's japonica rice to shareholders

K.S.Pua, chairman and CEO of Phison, said that LSY Shelter Farm (蓮心園庇護農場) provides services and job opportunities for disabled friends, helping them learn a skill, solve family problems, and cultivate the ability to be self-reliant. In addition to treating the mind and body of slow children, it also gives them the opportunity to contribute to society, to protect this land with non-toxic and non-chemical fertilizer planting and solar farming. Through the opportunity of cooperation with LSY (蓮心園庇護農場), Phison not only helped these disadvantaged friends, but also continued to implement Phison's commitment to corporate social responsibility. 

[Introduction to LSY (蓮心園)]

LSY Social Welfare Foundation (蓮心園社會福利基金會) continues to grow in compassion, giving disadvantaged groups the opportunity to change, deeply rooted in the community, providing a full range of services and companionship, caring for the physically and mentally handicapped, and helping the handicapped to lead an independent life. 

In addition to the establishment of the LSY Special Education Center (蓮心園啟智中心), it has also entered the community to establish day work centers (日間作業所), sheltered agronomic factories and farms to help the disabled integrate into the actual services of the community, and look forward to creating a better life in Taiwan.