The Belle II at SuperKEKB will accumulate e+e- collision data at an unprecedented instantaneous luminosity of 8 X 1035, cm−2 s−1, about 40 times larger than its predecessor (Belle). Such a dramatic increase in luminosity will result in a harsh background environment in Belle II. In this paper, we present the detailed performance studies of the Belle II silicon vertex detector with test beam data and Phase II data. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.