Nov 13 (Reuters) - Solidigm, the California-based

subsidiary of memory-chip giant SK Hynix ( HXSCF ), on

Wednesday announced a new energy-efficient data storage drive

aimed at the artificial intelligence market.

Solidigm, which SK Hynix ( HXSCF ) purchased from Intel ( INTC ) for

$9 billion, said its newest solid-state drive will hold about

122.9 terabytes of data, which is enough to make almost three

high-quality video copies of every movie released in the 1990s.

But the more important feature for AI is that Solidigm estimates

the drives will consume about 84% less power than its rivals.

Power consumption has become a key focus in AI data centers

because computing chips from firms such as Nvidia ( NVDA ) can

draw as much as a kilowatt of power on their own. That means

that the companies building those data centers look to save

power on every other element of the data center, including data

storage systems.

Roger Corell, senior director of AI and leadership marketing

at Solidigm, told a press briefing that data centers that once

used as much as 20% of total energy for storage systems using

older technologies can reduce that to as little as 3%.

"Storage efficiency matters," Corell said. "We're really in

an environment where these data center operators are just kind

of going through almost unnatural acts to look for more and more

power supply."

Solidigm said that Dell Technologies ( DELL ) is among the

initial customers using the new solid state drive.