VDURA and Phison Shatter the AI Data Transfer Record with Hafþór “The Mountain” Björnsson at SC25

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The world just witnessed data history in the making. At Supercomputing 2025 (SC25), VDURA, the leader in AI and HPC data-storage software infrastructure, and Phison Electronics, a global leader in NAND flash controllers and storage solutions, teamed with Hafþór “The Mountain” Björnsson to achieve the fastest data transfer ever recorded.

Before a packed audience at Booth 2033, Björnsson transferred 136.5 petabytes (PB) of data in just 27 seconds, hitting a sustained rate of 5.1 PB per second (≈ 303 PB per minute). The demonstration showcased the combined power of Phison Pascari enterprise SSDs and VDURA’s Flash-optimized parallel data storage infrastructure. Unleashing bandwidth once thought impossible in AI and HPC environments.

“VDURA is built for moments like this,” said Ken Claffey, CEO of VDURA. “What Thor achieved on the show floor symbolizes what our customers achieve every day. Extreme performance, scalability, and durability, all working together at record-breaking speed.”

From Lifting Data to Moving Data at Light Speed

Last year at SC24, Thor stunned the industry by lifting 282.6 PB of data, the largest amount of data lifted in history.

This year at SC25, the challenge evolved from capacity to speed: moving hundreds of petabytes in seconds. Powered by VDURA’s DirectFlow® client, true parallel file system, VeLO metadata engine, and Phison Pascari D205V NVMe drives, Thor’s record demonstrates the throughput and durability needed for the next generation of AI factories and GPU-accelerated clusters.

“VDURA represents strength, speed, and resilience, the same values I live by,” said Hafþór “Thor” Björnsson. “Last year we lifted data. This year, we unleashed its velocity.”

How Fast Is 5.1 PB Per Second?

To put this record in perspective with some estimates:

• Equivalent to transferring the entire Netflix library in under 30 seconds
• Moving every YouTube video ever uploaded in just a few minutes
• Comparable to transporting a global scientific research repository in under a minute
• Similar in scale to moving the world’s daily social-media video uploads in a few seconds

The Most Powerful Data Storage Infrastructure Software

The live demonstration highlighted VDURA’s architecture, delivering the performance of NVMe Flash with the economics of scalable capacity. Flash throughput and metadata acceleration eliminate pipeline chokepoints while automation keeps data tiered without hands-on tuning. Try out the VDURA GPU Storage Calculator here.

About VDURA

VDURA builds the world’s most powerful data platform for AI and high-performance computing, blending flash-first speed with hyperscale capacity and 12-nines durability, all delivered with breakthrough simplicity. Visit vdura.com for more information.

About Phison

Phison Electronics is a global leader in NAND flash controllers and storage solutions, powering more than one in every five SSDs shipped worldwide. Phison has grown into a multi-billion-dollar company with over 4,500 employees—70% of which are dedicated to R&D – and more than 2,000 patents. The company’s innovations include aiDAPTIV+, an award-winning AI solution for affordable LLM training and inferencing on-premises, and Pascari, a portfolio of ultra-high-performance enterprise SSDs purpose-built for data-intensive workloads across AI, cloud, and hyperscale data centers.