SK Hynix Recruits Korean Chip Designer ASICLAND for Next-Gen Enterprise SSD Controllers

IT-NEWS, June 29 — Korean chip design house ASICLAND has signed a development contract with SK Hynix for next-generation enterprise SSD controllers. The deal covers ASIC design and tape-out support, with manufacturing planned on TSMC’s advanced process nodes.

The contract is valued at roughly 31.9 billion KRW (about $25 million USD) and runs from May 2025 through December 2027. That timeline suggests SK Hynix’s next wave of enterprise SSDs is still a few years out.

ASICLAND holds an unusual position in the semiconductor ecosystem. It’s the only Korean company in TSMC’s Value Chain Aggregation alliance, a select group of design-service partners with early access to TSMC’s manufacturing roadmap. Its capabilities span from 250nm legacy nodes down to 3nm, giving it the flexibility to match different controller designs with the right process technology.

Enterprise SSD performance has become a growing bottleneck as AI training clusters and inference servers move petabytes of data through storage systems. A faster, more efficient controller paired with SK Hynix’s own NAND and DRAM could translate into meaningful throughput and power gains for hyperscale cloud operators.

SK Hynix has been expanding its enterprise storage portfolio aggressively, with HBM3E memory already shipping to AI leaders like NVIDIA. The ASICLAND partnership fills a gap in its controller design capability—an area traditionally dominated by US-based firms like Marvell and Microchip. By bringing controller design in-house through this partnership, SK Hynix can optimize the full storage stack from NAND to interface, potentially reducing latency and power draw compared to off-the-shelf controller solutions.