Huawei’s consumer-grade SSD eKitStore Extreme 200E series is finally available for purchase at a Korean e-tailer, with the 1TB model priced at just $32 (via @Jukanlosreve on X).
Although Huawei has been producing server SSDs for some time, it was not until June this year that Huawei entered the consumer storage field. Launched eKitStore Extreme 200E hard drive. Huawei NVMe SSDs range in capacity from 512GB to 4TB, with read speeds up to 7,400 MB/s and write speeds up to 6,700 MB/s, which are quite high-end among PCIe 4.0 hard drives. Of course, Huawei’s hard drive still pales in comparison to PCIe 5.0 models, which can reach speeds of around 14,000MB/s.
Huawei launches SSD in South Korea…priced at $32! (1TB QLC) Should I try it? pic.twitter.com/5uFa0vHO5DDecember 28, 2024
The exact components that make up the Huawei 200E hard drive are almost a complete mystery. Currently, it is only known that SSD uses QLC-based NAND chips and lacks DRAM. It’s unclear who made the controller or the NAND chip, at least for now. However, both parts are most likely made in China. U.S. sanctions on Huawei will make it difficult to source NAND and controllers from outside, and the sanctions have generally pushed China’s semiconductor industry towards domestic production.
The controller may be produced by MaxioTech, a popular choice for many value-focused drives, or may even be designed by Huawei itself, as the company has been making its own controllers for server SSDs for years. As for NAND, China’s most obvious candidate is Yangtze River Storagewhose chips are used in a large number of cheap SSDs.
Huawei might even sell an SSD that’s essentially the same as many other products on the market, which happens a lot with brands that don’t make NAND or controllers. For example, Corsair’s MP600 Pro NH uses the same components as Sabrent’s Rocket 4 Plus SeagateFireCuda 530 etc.
Although Huawei faces fierce competition in terms of production capacity and performance, the Chinese semiconductor giant may beat other companies in terms of price/performance. The 1TB model of the eKitStore Extreme 200E is currently priced at only 47,500 won, which is approximately US$32. This price point will beat almost every other SSD in the US. It’s already hard to find a $32 SSD, let alone one with performance approaching the speed limits of a PCIe 4.0 NVMe connection.
However, it’s unclear whether Huawei plans to continue selling its 1TB hard drive at this price in the long term, or whether this is due to promotional pricing or temporary discounts. Even with 100% domestically sourced parts, we estimate $32 is a price that’s hard to hit while being profitable. There also seems to be less of an urgent need to beat the competition so thoroughly.