What is the maximum SD card capacity that can be achieved?

SD memory card (SD Card - Secure Digital Card) is probably one of the technology accessories that is no longer strange to everyone.

SD memory card (SD Card - Secure Digital Card) is probably one of the technology accessories that is no longer strange to everyone. This is basically a memory card format developed by the SD Card Association - SDA in the early 2000s to compete with Sony's Memory Stick line of memory cards. Up to now, SD cards have grown strongly and become one of the most commonly used memory cards in the world. But have you ever wondered what is the largest SD card capacity that can be achieved?

What is the largest capacity SD card you can buy?

As of June 2023, the largest commercial microSD card available on the market is one terabyte. This can be considered a 'big leap' in terms of maximum storage capacity on SD cards compared to just a few years ago, when 512GB memory cards were considered breakthroughs.

It's interesting to see how fast SD memory card technology has evolved since the first product was introduced in late 1999. At the time, the 'early' microSD version had a storage capacity of just 32MB. Now, after 24 years, we are holding memory cards with storage capacity thousands of times larger while the size remains the same, even a little more compact.

SDXC (Secure Digital eXtended-Capacity) memory cards, also known as SD version 3.0 memory cards, can technically support up to 2TB of storage capacity. However, at the time of writing, there are no commercial 2TB card models commercially available.

In June 2022, Micron made headlines when it launched a 1.5TB microSD card model. The product will go on sale through wholesalers in early 2023. In late 2022, Koxia announced a prototype of its 2TB microSD card line, but a commercial version has so far failed to materialize.

In fact, large storage capacity is not always a good thing. These high-capacity SD card models come with a hefty price tag, making them harder to reach for the average consumer.

What is the maximum SD card capacity that can be achieved? Picture 1 What is the maximum SD card capacity that can be achieved? Picture 1

Theoretical capacity limit of SD card

SD cards come in three main categories: SD (up to 2GB), SDHC (up to 32GB), and SDXC (up to 2TB). But is there a theoretical size limit to the amount of data these compact storage solutions can hold?

The SDUC (SD Ultra Capacity) specification expands the maximum potential SD card capacity to an astounding 128TB. SDUC uses the same physical form factor as traditional SD cards, but uses a file system (exFAT) and other data bus interfaces to handle this higher level of storage.

However, as of 2023, no commercial SDUC cards are available. It's hard to cram so much storage into such a small form factor. In addition to the technical problem, there is also the economic problem. Given the high cost to manufacture such storage devices while demand from the market is relatively low, it is unclear when or if we will see SDUC cards hit the market.