Earlier this year, SSD prices were falling, but of late, we’ve heard some buzz about this situation being reversed – and here’s another piece of chatter about the cost of solid-state drives potentially heading upwards.
Tom’s Hardware brought our attention to a DigiTimes report which claims (add seasoning, as ever) that Phison, a manufacturer of memory controllers for SSDs (and some drives too), is prepaying chip suppliers to ensure that it has enough NAND chips in stock for its needs going forward.
In other words, the firm foresees a shortage of NAND chips, so it’s buying upfront to combat potential supply difficulties (and paying more) down the line.
We’re told that this is according to KS Pua, who is the CEO (and founder) of Phison, so a source in a good place to know, to put it mildly (adding considerable weight to the report, of course).
If NAND chips are going to get thinner on the ground, pricing will go up, and the cost of making SSDs will rise – and of course that additional expense will be passed onto consumers.
Analysis: Stock correction
This could mean that some reasonably chunky hikes are going to be seen for SSDs in the future. Indeed, most SSDs have already been maintaining their pricing, or even creeping up a little bit, in distinct contrast to the falls we’ve gotten used to throughout 2023.
What’s happened is that as this year began, there was far too much stock swimming around, so SSDs had to be offloaded using tempting pricing. However, with manufacturers cutting production – the obvious reaction to that glut of stock – we’re now seeing the effects of that.
All of which means that if you want to buy one of the best SSDs, you really ought to get in and do it sooner rather than later. And with Black Friday likely to bring at least some deals and discounts on solid-state drives, these are probably going to be the cheapest prices on SSDs that you’ll see for some time – indeed, maybe a long time.