Methods and apparatus are disclosed for implementing principal component analysis (PCA) within a non-volatile memory (NVM) die of solid state drive (SSD) to reduce the dimensionality of machine learning data before the data is transferred to other components of the SSD, such as to a data storage controller equipped with a machine learning engine. The machine learning data may include, for example, training images for training an image recognition system in which the SSD is installed. In some examples, the on-chip PCA components of the NVM die are configured as under-the-array or next-to-the-array components. In other examples, one or more arrays of the NVM die are configured as multiplication cores for performing PCA matrix multiplication. In still other aspects, multiple NVM dies are arranged in parallel, each with on-chip PCA components to permit parallel concurrent on-chip processing of machine learning data.