I. NAND Flash Prices on the Rise

1. SanDisk Initiates Price Hike (Effective April 1)

2. Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix, and YMTC to Follow (Price increases from April)

II. Micron Factory Power Outage Causes Supply Tightening

1. Micron’s Singapore Factory Power Outage

• Disrupts NAND supply

• YMTC’s SSD brand to raise channel prices by over 10%

2. Order Fulfillment Shortages

• A major customer’s December 2024 order affected

• Industry reports suggest Micron’s power outage in January led to wafer production losses

• In early March, Micron notified customers of an 11% price increase for new orders

III. AI Demand Driving NAND Growth

1. Accelerated Adoption of High-Capacity Storage

• Enterprise storage expanding from 4TB and 8TB to 32TB SSDs

• 122/128TB storage undergoing validation and deployment

2. Increased Capacity Consumption Leading to Supply Constraints

• Upstream manufacturers leading price hikes, with other brands expected to follow

• YMTC’s NAND chip prices likely to remain high

IV. Samsung and SK Hynix to Follow Suit with Price Increases

1. Impact of Production Cuts

• Due to weak NAND prices in 2024, major manufacturers restarted production cuts in Q4 2024

• NAND output in Q1 2024 dropped over 10% compared to H2 2024

2. Reduced Shipments and Customer Complaints

• Samsung’s March shipments reportedly fulfilled only 20-25% of original orders

• Official reason: tight supply, but price hikes are a clear motive

• Supply expected to normalize in April, with NAND prices likely to rise by 10%

V. NAND Price Trends and Market Expectations

• Production Cuts Helping to Ease Supply-Demand Imbalance

• Original Forecast: Prices Would Decline Until H2 2025, but Increases Are Coming Sooner

• Since March, Manufacturers Have Been Rapidly Pushing Price Hikes, Speeding Up Market Recovery