NAND Flash Price Hikes Driven by Rising Market Demand
24 March 2025 路 Uncategorized 路
Source: 路 https://technews.tw/2025/03/17/nand-flash-suppliers-are-bound-to-raise-prices/
According to market information, original NAND flash memory manufacturers are planning price increases in April. This is driven by a combination of factors including the power outage at Micron鈥檚 Singapore plant and production cuts implemented by major players like Samsung and SK Hynix.
The recent surge in prices can be partly attributed to an earlier-year blackout incident that disrupted operations at Micron's NAND flash factory in Singapore, leading to tighter supply. Furthermore, cost reduction strategies from key Korean manufacturers鈥擲amsung Electronics and SK Hynix鈥攁re now taking effect. Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) has already announced a channel price increase for its SSD brand starting April 1st, exceeding 10%.
SanDisk recently notified customers of planned price increases effective April 1st; this announcement spurred rumors that Micron, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and YMTC would follow suit. Industry insiders suggest the power outage at Micron鈥檚 Singapore plant in January resulted in a loss of wafer production capacity鈥攖hough this has not been officially confirmed by Micron.
Korean manufacturers like Samsung and SK Hynix are also expected to implement price increases starting April 1st. These companies have already taken steps, such as curbing NAND bit supply growth throughout the year, resulting in an estimated more than 10% reduction in Q1 2025 production compared to H2 2024. Beyond these supply-side factors, increasing market demand driven by AI is also contributing to price increases; specifically, enterprise storage solutions are increasingly adopting larger capacity SSDs that require significant memory resources.
Overall, original manufacturers鈥攊ncluding Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Kioxia鈥攈ave gradually resumed production cuts since Q4 2023 in response to previous oversupply conditions, aiming to prevent further price declines. While this round of reductions is less drastic than those seen previously, it has effectively alleviated worsening supply-demand imbalances.
However, persistent rumors about impending price hikes beginning in March indicate that market changes are occurring faster than anticipated. The evolving dynamics within the storage industry suggest a swift transition toward an undersupply situation; part of these increases can be attributed to rising costs due to tariffs as well. This early rise鈥攄riven by supplier production cuts and demand surges fueled by AI鈥攊s likely to impact cost structures across memory industries.
(Picture source: Samsung)
The recent surge in prices can be partly attributed to an earlier-year blackout incident that disrupted operations at Micron's NAND flash factory in Singapore, leading to tighter supply. Furthermore, cost reduction strategies from key Korean manufacturers鈥擲amsung Electronics and SK Hynix鈥攁re now taking effect. Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) has already announced a channel price increase for its SSD brand starting April 1st, exceeding 10%.
SanDisk recently notified customers of planned price increases effective April 1st; this announcement spurred rumors that Micron, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and YMTC would follow suit. Industry insiders suggest the power outage at Micron鈥檚 Singapore plant in January resulted in a loss of wafer production capacity鈥攖hough this has not been officially confirmed by Micron.
Korean manufacturers like Samsung and SK Hynix are also expected to implement price increases starting April 1st. These companies have already taken steps, such as curbing NAND bit supply growth throughout the year, resulting in an estimated more than 10% reduction in Q1 2025 production compared to H2 2024. Beyond these supply-side factors, increasing market demand driven by AI is also contributing to price increases; specifically, enterprise storage solutions are increasingly adopting larger capacity SSDs that require significant memory resources.
Overall, original manufacturers鈥攊ncluding Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Kioxia鈥攈ave gradually resumed production cuts since Q4 2023 in response to previous oversupply conditions, aiming to prevent further price declines. While this round of reductions is less drastic than those seen previously, it has effectively alleviated worsening supply-demand imbalances.
However, persistent rumors about impending price hikes beginning in March indicate that market changes are occurring faster than anticipated. The evolving dynamics within the storage industry suggest a swift transition toward an undersupply situation; part of these increases can be attributed to rising costs due to tariffs as well. This early rise鈥攄riven by supplier production cuts and demand surges fueled by AI鈥攊s likely to impact cost structures across memory industries.
(Picture source: Samsung)