Price increase and supply chain volatility of memory in the first half of 2024

In the first half of 2024, prices continued to rise amid reports of supply chain disruptions and imbalances. In January, with the increasing demand for NAND, DRAM, and CXL technologies, SSD prices rose by 15% to 35%, while the supply of high-capacity SSDs was limited.
 

Manufacturers say that the memory market is at a turning point. After cutting production of certain products by up to 50% in the previous year, Samsung announced a renewed focus on high-value products and plans to increase production of 32 Gigabit DDR5 and HBM3E to meet the growing demand for high-density memory products, particularly for AI applications.
 

In the second quarter, Samsung, Western Digital, and Micron announced further price increases for their memory products. Western Digital reports that the supply shortage of HDD and SSD has led to price increases for NAND flash memory and HDD, and further adjustments are expected. Due to the increase in demand caused by supply shortages, Samsung has raised the price of enterprise grade SSDs by 20% to 25%.
 

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that occurred in Taiwan in April further intensified industry challenges and affected production. This disaster has led to a widespread pause and delay in pricing negotiations, with predictions suggesting that prices for various memory product lines may rise by up to 20%. After the earthquake, Micron temporarily suspended its quotation activities, resulting in a 25% increase in prices for LPDDR5 and DDR5, while delivery times for certain components were extended to over 12 weeks.