As memory chip prices continue to rise, a forecast has emerged that not only DRAM but also NAND flash will surge in price.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 3rd, NAND prices in the first quarter of this year are expected to rise more than 40% from the previous quarter.
NAND is a type of memory mainly used in data storage devices. As investment in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers has expanded recently, demand has surged for high-capacity, high-performance enterprise SSDs (eSSDs) made with NAND.
However, prices are climbing steeply as supply fails to keep up with demand. Counterpoint Research analyzed that prices are rising as demand concentrates in servers. With enterprise SSD volumes being prioritized, consumer NAND supply is relatively shrinking, creating a price premium.
Counterpoint Research said, "Major suppliers are cutting consumer production to respond to NAND demand for AI servers," and noted, "While the average price per gigabyte (GB) of NAND flash is projected to increase by 40%, low-spec 128GB models for PCs have recently been trading with a premium of around 50%."
In addition, Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron focusing their capacity expansions on DRAM production for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) also appears to have influenced the increase in NAND prices.