Against the background of expected differentiation in global memory chip supply, the solid-state drive (SSD) market is facing greater uncertainty. Some institutions believe that the shortage of NAND flash memory will gradually ease, but there are also voices warning that the situation will continue to worsen. Cameron Crandall, Kingston data center SSD business manager, recently stated on the "The Full Nerd Network" podcast that the shortage of NAND flash memory will be significantly intensified in the next 30 days, and SSD prices will rise further based on the current basis.
Internal data disclosed by Kingston shows that in 2025 alone, from the first quarter to the present, NAND flash memory prices have increased by approximately 246%, with approximately 70% of the increase concentrated in the past 60 days, which means that a large number of cost increases have been transmitted along the supply chain and reflected in end product pricing. Kingston believes that this is an intuitive reflection of the current market tension, and also indicates that it is difficult for SSD prices to fall significantly in the short term.
However, voices from the machine and graphics card manufacturers’ camps called on users to remain calm. Sapphire public relations manager Edward Crisler previously said when talking about related topics that he does not recommend PC players or potential buyers to panic buy in anticipation of price increases. He emphasized that although the industry will feel "real pain" in the next six months or so, this round of stress is unlikely to last longer, and the biggest problem now is the unclear outlook.
It is this uncertainty that is driving OEMs to increase the number of contracts they sign with NAND suppliers to lock in future supply. However, since almost no party other than NAND manufacturers has complete first-hand supply and demand information, it is generally difficult for the market to judge how long demand will exceed supply. Against the background of the large-scale expansion of AI-related applications, the demand for storage capacity in data centers and consumer-grade terminals has increased simultaneously, putting the entire storage industry chain under high pressure.
It is worth noting that this round of tension is not limited to the NAND flash memory or SSD fields, traditional mechanical hard disks (HDD) are also affected. According to reports, HDD contract negotiations have come to an end in the fourth quarter of 2025. The results show that the price of traditional hard drives has increased by about 4% month-on-month, the largest increase in the past eight quarters. This reflects that driven by the AI wave, "every bit of available storage" is being repriced by the market.
Currently, NAND flash memory accounts for about 90% of traditional SSD material costs, which means that any fluctuations in upstream prices will be quickly and magnifiedly reflected in end products. On the premise that the imbalance between supply and demand has not been alleviated, the industry generally expects that both SSD and HDD will continue to be under pressure in the short term. Consumers and enterprise users have to take price fluctuations into consideration when planning storage upgrades or expansions.