Micron Unleashes Gen 5 and Gen 6 SSDs in Bid to Dominate AI Data Center Storage

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is one of the best cheap growth stocks to buy according to analysts. In August 2025, Micron made two aggressive moves in the data center storage arms race. On August 5, the company unveiled the 6600 ION SSD, a PCIe Gen 5 drive offering an eye-watering 122 terabytes of capacity in a single U.2 form factor. Micron stated that this drive is designed for hyperscale and enterprise data centers, with efficiency metrics like 1 watt per 4.9TB and up to 88 petabytes per rack. A 245TB version is already slated for 2026, reinforcing Micron’s push to replace mechanical hard drives entirely in this segment.

Just days before that, Micron introduced the 9650 SSD, which it billed as the world’s first PCIe Gen 6 drive. Targeted at AI-heavy data center workloads, the 9650 boasts sequential read speeds of 28GB/s, writes at 14GB/s, and up to 5.5 million IOPS, the kind of performance figures that dwarf anything currently on the market. It’s not meant for consumer use and won’t fit in typical PCs, but its presence sets a new ceiling for enterprise-grade storage performance.

Both product launches were clearly aimed at strengthening Micron’s position in the AI infrastructure supply chain, though the company hasn’t made explicit comments tying the products to specific customers or demand signals. The announcements came at a time when hyperscalers are rapidly upgrading backend architecture to keep pace with training and inference loads driven by large language models and other compute-heavy AI use cases.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is based in Boise, Idaho. It’s is a global leader in innovative memory and storage solutions. The company manufactures DRAM, NAND, and NOR flash memory products used across a wide range of industries, including data centers, mobile devices, automotive systems, and industrial applications.

While we acknowledge the potential of MU as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.

Disclosure: None.