NAND-based products, including consumer SSDs, could see a sharp rise in the coming weeks, as major suppliers raise prices to meet the massive AI demand.
The Increase in AI Data Center Capacity Has Brought In Huge Demand For Enterprise Storage
Well, it seems like gamers might need to combat another shortage coming their way. According to reports quoting supply chain sources, NAND firms such as Western Digital, SanDisk, and Micron are raising NAND prices by up to 30%. The demand for AI and enterprise storage is rapidly increasing due to a surge in data center capacity. For now, major NAND suppliers have stopped giving out quotes to customers, and with that, it won't be wrong to say that we can see a widespread price increase, not just limited to enterprise storage.
Western Digital recently made an official announcement disclosing changes in the NAND pricing structure. Based on a report by DigiTimes, companies like SanDisk are anticipated to raise prices for NAND products by up to 10%. One of the biggest suppliers, Micron, is factoring in a price hike as significant as 30%, but the firm hasn't officially notified the raise to its customers, which means that the supply chain is still adjusting to the situation. However, in the broader scheme of things, consumer-focused NAND products could see a drastic increase in prices.
For those curious about how AI is gobbling up enterprise storage, well, they are the primary 'container' of datasets needed to train LLMs, and in particular, HDDs act as cold storage for raw datasets. Given how quickly data center computing power is expanding worldwide, the demand for enterprise storage is also rising in parallel, which is why NAND firms are capitalizing on the hype. Since HDDs don't employ NAND chips, they won't see as aggressive of a price rise as SSDs, but they are still expected to be influenced.
Interestingly, I remember how just last year, the NAND industry was struggling to profit, since consumer demand was at its rock bottom.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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