We are facing expensive SSDs again. The reason is poor sales
Were you planning to buy a new SSD? It seems that it is not worth delaying because it may be more expensive. All large NAND memory manufacturers plan to reduce production.
Semiconductor media they are already included in even the cheapest computer sets and laptops. It’s hardly surprising when they offer it significantly higher transfers and lower access times. This connection translates into extremely fast loading of the system, games and applications, and this affects comfort of using the PC.
Less NAND availability means more expensive SSDs
NAND memory manufacturers hoped that the artificial intelligence craze would contribute to increased SSD sales. Unfortunately, the demand turned out to be lower than expected. Meaning that Kioxia, Micron, Samsung and SK hynix are considering reducing production and reducing investments in new plants and/or production lines.
Instead processing capacity is to be devoted to DRAM solutionsas the market “suction” for HBM memory for AI accelerators is still very high. They are needed not only by AMD, Intel and NVIDIA, but also by Huawei and many other companies that have started to create their own systems.
What does this mean for the average person? It all depends on how much production will be reduced. However, this may translate into an increase in the prices of semiconductor media in stores. However, it will not be immediate. First, SSD manufacturers will have to use up their current stocks of memory chips.
We observed a similar situation in the second half of last year. At the turn of 2023/2024, almost all SSDs increased in price significantly – even by PLN 100-200 for popular models with a capacity of 1 and 2 TB. Over time, the situation normalized, but it took several months.
