Huawei's Magneto-Electric Disk technology combines SSD speed with 72 TB tape storage

Huawei has developed a new kind of storage technology that blends the speed of a solid-state drive with the massive storage of tape, all in one neat device. They're calling it Magneto-Electric Disk, or MED for short, and it's a game-changer for storing both "warm" and "cold" data.

The first MED device is slated for 2025 and promises a whopping 72 TB of storage while using only about 10 percent of the power that regular hard drives need. Inside, there's an SSD for quick data access and a custom tape mechanism, all packed into a sealed seven-inch enclosure.

What's remarkable is that MED ditches the usual robotic arms you'd see in traditional tape libraries. Instead, it's got a built-in motor, read-write heads, and two tape spools that handle data automatically. This setup gives it the same kind of block storage capabilities as regular hard drives while keeping the benefits of tape for long-term storage.

The tech also simplifies the usual SSD-HDD-tape combo into a new SSD-MED setup. Data moves fast through the SSD at NAND speeds and then gradually transfers over to tape. A smart metadata mapping system stored in NAND memory makes it easy to pull data back when needed, whether on the SSD or the tape.

For rack setups, MED systems boast some pretty impressive numbers:

• 8 GB/s combined data speed
• More than 10 PB of total storage capacity
• Under 2 kW of power usage

Looking ahead, Huawei's got a second-gen MED in the works for 2026 or 2027, aiming to shrink it down to a compact 3.5-inch size with even more storage density. They've already locked in patents on the tech and components, and some Chinese cloud providers are eager to get in on the action.

This new MED tech couldn't come at a better time for Huawei as they look for new storage options with the US export restrictions in place. It's a move that could shake up the storage industry, especially in areas looking for more independent supply chains.

On top of that, Huawei is expanding its storage line with other projects, including plans for a 60 TB SSD that uses 3D QLC NAND tech with SLC cache, which should pair nicely with MED in the high-capacity storage space.