IBM using Everspin MRAM in 5th gen FlashCore Modules

What happened

IBM's gen 5 FlashCore Modules (FCM5, IBM's proprietary SSDs featuring hardware compression, deduplication, die striping and cyber-attack detection, using QLC NAND with an SLC incoming write zone, with raw capacity points of 6.6, 12.2, 26.4, 52.8 and 105.6 TB) use Everspin MRAM instead of capacitors to protect against data loss from power failures. Because MRAM is non-volatile, the drives do not need super-capacitors to write consistency data to NAND on power loss; the metadata is held in MRAM and persists through power loss, allowing IBM to reclaim SuperCap space and populate it with more NAND chips to increase capacity. The report cites a page-21 FCM5 board illustration in the Redbook 'IBM FlashCore Module (FCM) Product Guide' showing an Everspin chip. The article also recalls that in April 2024 Everspin announced IBM chose its PERSYST EMD4E001G 1 Gb STT-MRAM chip for FlashCore Module 4 drives, specifically for data protection on power loss; prior FCM3s used up to 128 MB of Toggle MRAM for that purpose; and IBM has used a few hundred megabytes of Everspin MRAM inside FCMs for several years as a small, non-volatile write cache and journal. Everspin says its MRAM products have more than 2,000 customers, 20 years in production and more than 200 million chips shipped.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: Blocks & Files · 10/5/2026 · View original source