Major NAND flash manufacturers, including SanDisk, Micron, and Yangtze Memory¡¯s ZhiTai brand, are set to increase prices starting April 2025, driven by reduced production and surging demand from AI applications. This marks a shift from oversupply to a tightening market, with significant implications for enterprise, consumer, and AI-driven storage solutions.
Price Hikes Across Major Manufacturers
SanDisk announced a price increase exceeding 10% for all channel and consumer NAND flash products, effective April 1, 2025, citing a transition to a supply-constrained market and rising costs due to recent U.S. tariffs. Micron has also confirmed an 11% price hike for new orders, following a January 2025 power outage at its Singapore factory that reduced wafer capacity. Yangtze Memory¡¯s ZhiTai brand plans to raise channel prices by over 10% from April, with spot market signals indicating rising prices for small-capacity eMMC and select SSDs since early 2025.
AI-Driven Demand Fuels Market Shift
At the CFM MemoryS 2025 summit, industry leaders highlighted AI as a primary driver of storage demand, with large-capacity SSDs (32 TB in mass production, 64 TB, and 128 TB in growing demand) becoming critical for enterprise applications. AI servers require three times the NAND and eight times the DRAM of standard servers, amplifying capacity needs. The rise of AI PCs, projected to constitute 43% of PC shipments by 2025, and AI smartphones further strains storage supply, with flagship phones doubling LPDDR5X memory capacity.
Supply Constraints and Production Cuts
Since late 2024, major manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and Kioxia have reduced NAND production by 10¨C25% to address oversupply, stabilizing the supply-demand balance. These cuts, combined with unexpected supply disruptions like Micron¡¯s Singapore outage, have tightened availability, prompting price adjustments. SanDisk noted limited capacity to handle unplanned orders, urging early communication to avoid extended lead times.
Industry Perspectives and Market Outlook
Phison Electronics¡¯ chairman, Pua Khein-seng, confirmed the NAND price surge, driven by restocking demand and production cuts, with the trend expected to persist. Phison projects Q1 2025 as the performance low point, with supply-demand dynamics tightening by the second half, fueled by AI edge devices and technologies like DeepSeek. CFM predicts NAND price stabilization in Q2 2025 and a broader recovery by Q3, but cautions that rapid price hikes could suppress demand.
Conclusion
The 2025 storage chip price increases by SanDisk, Micron, and Yangtze Memory reflect a market transitioning to supply scarcity, driven by AI-induced demand and strategic production cuts. While this supports industry recovery, stable pricing is crucial to sustain growth in AI servers, consumer devices, and automotive applications. The NAND and DRAM markets are poised for significant expansion, with Q3 2025 likely marking a turning point for the global storage ecosystem.
