Display of Yangtze Memory's UC260 chip (Image credit: TMTPost AGI Editor Lin Zhijia)

AsianFin -- Major storage chip manufacturer Micron has recently announced a price increase of over 10% for its NAND flash memory products.

Similarly, SanDisk, Samsung, and SK Hynix are expected to hike their NAND flash memory prices next month, with SanDisk chips’ raise as steep as up to 10%.

Chinese storage chip companies are following suit. Industry sources revealed that Yangtze Memory Technology's "Zhitai" will increase its delivery prices potentially by over 10% starting in April.

A chip industry insider explained that recent shortages in storage chip production have extended procurement cycles, with some downstream NAND flash memory prices tripling compared to their original levels. The primary driver of this surge is production disruptions or cuts by major manufacturers like Micron and Samsung, which have reduced industry supply.

The top five NAND manufacturers have collectively reduced their production capacity by 35%, according to Digitimes.

Throughout the whole year, the storage chip market is expected to experience a cyclical trend of rising prices but declining volumes, slowing down overall market growth potentially.

Data from the CFM Flash Market shows that global DRAM and NAND flash memory sales revenue reached a historic high of $167 billion in 2024, an 85.53% increase from the previous year, driven by strong demand for AI servers.

However, in the fourth quarter of 2024, the global NAND flash market size decreased by 8.5% to $17.41 billion. It is projected that in 2025, the global storage market's output value will achieve only a modest 2% growth.

At MemoryS 2025, Tai Wei, General Manager of the Flash Memory Market, pointed out that the AI technology is shifting computing platforms from CPU-centric to GPU/NPU-focused architectures. This transition is driving increased demand for storage chips, particularly High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), which currently accounts for nearly 30% of the DRAM storage industry. The introduction of HBM4 in 2026 is expected to spur further growth and customization within the industry.

IDC predicts that by 2025, generative AI adoption in enterprises will focus on productivity-enhancing scenarios like office assistants, followed by vertical industry applications in finance, energy, retail, and manufacturing. Intelligent agents will become a critical direction for large model applications.

Meanwhile, the demand for AI computing power is surging, with companies like meta and Amazon purchasing large quantities of Nvidia GPU cards. As "Moore's Law" becomes less relevant, the market's demand for AI inference computing power, storage, and networking in data centers has significantly increased.

For example, 40%-60% of DeepSeek components are implemented using SSD storage products, highlighting the critical roles of DRAM and HBM in AI systems. This positions AI as a new "savior" for the storage chip industry amid declining consumer market demand.

Phison Electronics Chairman K.S. Pua noted that consumer-grade NAND flash memory demand has plateaued, with most consumers using storage chips embedded in devices like smartphones and computers. The market has transitioned to a B2B model, with little incremental demand in the consumer sector.

Companies like Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix are shifting their focus to advanced technologies such as HBM, 1c, 1γ (gamma), and higher-layer stacking. NAND flash memory is entering the era of 300+ layers, with hybrid bonding technology advancing to overcome mass production challenges.

As Tai noted, open-source and lower-cost AI solutions are full of imaginative possibilities. The strong sales of integrated DS machines have accelerated the application of industry-wide large models and their deployment at the edge.