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  "documentTitle": "Pure Storage, Inc. (PSTG)",
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  "notes": "Includes a testimonial from an AI Architect at a leading hyperscaler.",
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      "text": "Access Density is a Red Herring",
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      "text": "While Pure likes to indict HDDs as a major contributor to current concerns about data center power consumption, the primary root causes lay elsewhere: (1) the ever-increasing power consumption of GPUs, with the new Blackwell Ultra drawing 1,400W and implemented in the tens of thousands per data center, and (2) the current 54V data center power architecture that relies on multiple AC/DC conversions across the power chain that create inefficiencies and require increasing amounts of expensive copper wiring and in-rack power equipment. Not surprisingly, the industry isn’t standing still. NVIDIA is driving the adoption of a new 800V high voltage direct current (HVDC) data center power architecture. In short, 800V HVDC involves converting 13.8kV AC grid power directly to 800V HVDC at the data center perimeter using industrial-grade rectifiers, thus eliminating most intermediate conversion steps. At the rack level, a significant reduction in the number of power supply units and their associated power requirements, cabling, and cooling infrastructure will free up rack space, reduce power and equipment costs, and enable higher density configurations. With 800V HVDC expected to roll out in 2027, data center architects will be relieved of some of the stress around power, and Pure may lose one of its major marketing messages.",
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      "text": "Anyone who speaks with a member of the pro-flash camp will inevitably encounter the access density argument for the superiority of SSDs. Access density refers to the ratio of the number of input/output operations per second (IOPS) that a drive can handle to its physical storage capacity (measured in terabytes or gigabytes). It’s essentially a way to measure how many I/O requests a storage device can serve relative to the amount of data it can store. As the argument goes, HDD IOPS are constrained by the standard platter speed of 7,200 RPM; thus, as HDDs increase in capacity, by definition, they experience declining MBps/TB. This is a well-known",
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      "text": "workloads, data infrastructure, engineering biases, and proprietary techniques. While not perfect and full of necessary generalizations, we believe it is directionally correct and, at the very least, represents the most detailed analysis put forth for investor discussion. Based on our analysis, HDDs have an approximate 5-6x TCO advantage for this implementation. Our results are broadly consistent with TCO feedback we received from two current and former data storage architects at leading hyperscalers. Does Pure offer the potential to achieve meaningful reductions in power and space? Yes, but the resultant cost savings are largely immaterial when compared to acquisition costs. Finally, we also dismiss the oft-stated pro-flash argument that the effective HDD-to-flash tipping point lies at a 3x price premium rather than something closer to parity. Considering data centers spent about $13.5 billion on HDDs last year, this spurious argument suggests they would be happy to spend an incremental $27 billion for “performance” that practically speaking is not necessary.",
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      "text": "I can tell you that HDDs are still the preferred storage for many of the use cases around long term storage...I don't think that you are going to see us moving to SSDs, even by 2028 or 2029, because of the costs when you're dealing with a lot of data",
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      "text": "I can tell you that HDDs are still the preferred storage for many of the use cases around long term storage...I don't think that you are going to see us moving to SSDs, even by 2028 or 2029, because of the costs when you're dealing with a lot of data — AI Architect at leading hyperscaler",
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