If we published last month that prices SSD could start to rise at the end of the year, it seems that events according to the latest leak from Samsung Electronicsand the South Korean tech giant could be planning a increasing the prices of its NAND flash memories which would apply from next month.

The DRAM industry is not experiencing the best of times in terms of sales in 2023 due to low demand. We’ve repeated this story several times in relation to graphics and processors, and demand for PC components has been relatively low since the bubble that was created as a result of forced curtailment due to the bursting of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The low demand has prompted Samsung to decide to drastically reduce its production, with the decline possibly reaching 40% of NAND production and 30% of DRAM production in the second half of this year. However, the market has started to show some signs of recovery, not only on PC, but also on servers, and it is this latter sector that appears to be driving the recovery in DRAM demand, as reported by Business Korea, particularly due to the continued increase in AI-related developments. Mobile phones and laptops are other industries that would increase the demand.

A 10% increase in Samsung NAND flash memory prices is expected and will be effective from early November 2023. Although the main reason is in the servers, there are indications that the price increase will also affect the consumer, so we may have the opportunity to get an SSD drive at an affordable price (or at least that affordable) a few weeks ago.

We’ll see if other NAND flash manufacturers like Hynix and Micron end after Samsung’s alleged decision, but seeing the signs of recovery that the market is giving, it would be best to think so, especially considering the information we published last month. . On the other hand, the situation we’ve had recently is quite anomalous due to too little demand, so prices can be expected to rise if companies’ sales volumes increase.

There’s nothing official yet, but the price hike of Samsung’s NAND flash memory suggests that it will become a reality starting next month. As we said before, the main reason seems to be the demand of companies for AI-related developments, but by inertia it will also affect consumers who act as end users.