- SSD and HDD prices are going up again, due to increased AI demand for NAND products
- Western Digital has already implemented a price surge on HDDs, effective immediately
- Other manufacturers are expected to follow suit
For both gamers and creative professionals, storage space and transfer speeds are crucial to achieving the best experiences with the best SSDs. Their importance can't be overstated. So for those seeking storage upgrades: spoiler alert, you may want to act quickly.
SSD (Solid State Drive) and HDD (Hard Disk Drive) prices are expected to increase up to 30%, due to increased NAND demand from AI data centers, as reported by Wccftech. Manufacturers such as Western Digital have already announced HDD price surges, effective immediately, as highlighted in a customer notice letter by QQ_Timmy on X.
The same applies to Micron and SanDisk. SanDisk recently announced a 10% NAND price hike, and Micron is anticipated to introduce a price surge as significant as 30%, as per a report by DigiTimes.
It's not the first time this has happened. Last year saw a major price surge for SSDs, but that was caused by a short supply of NAND packages. Now, it's a matter of increased demand from AI data centers, with HDDs and SSDs being used for datasets to train AI models and algorithms.
Ultimately, this could lead to an increased demand across the board, and the longer it goes on, the higher the chances of a lack of supply and no stock. Fortunately, I've hardly seen any SSDs go out of stock completely, even during last year's NAND shortage, but don't underestimate the climate of the market and how quickly things can shift.
Analysis: I couldn't be happier that I bought a 4TB SSD when I did
Besides upgrading your GPU or CPU, upgrading your SSD is severely underrated – especially if you're someone who is still using an HDD for gaming (even if it's amongst the best HDDs available) which, honestly, you shouldn't be in 2025 since some games literally require SSDs to work.
SSDs can quite literally revitalize your gaming experiences, with much faster loading times and easier file transfers at much quicker speeds. However, chances are you already know that. So I'll also point out the benefits in terms of storage space. Constantly having to delete games due to insufficient space is what led me to buy a 4TB SSD, and it's served me well for years.
Whether it's a portable SSD you desire, a 2230 SSD for your handheld gaming PC, or even more affordable SATA SSDs, I'd advise you to make a move now before the price surge sets in for all SSDs.
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