Storage Market Sees Moderate Adjustment with Differentiation This Week, Price Uptrend of Multiple Categories Slows Down

This week, the storage market has entered a phase of moderate adjustment, showing a pattern of structural differentiation. The price fluctuation range of memory is limited, while the SSD market remains strong. Due to the high price operation of various storage products in the early stage, buyers have a strong wait – and – see attitude.

In terms of inventory, the current average DRAM inventory level has dropped to 8 weeks, which is lower than 10 weeks in the same period last year and 31 weeks at the beginning of 2023, resulting in tight supply. Only Winbond and Nanya Technology can stably supply DDR4 memory. It is difficult to balance supply and demand in the short term, and prices may remain at a high level. To cope with this imbalance, some enterprises have adjusted their procurement strategies and signed 2 – 3 – year medium – and long – term contracts with Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other companies. Previously, the industry contract cycle was mostly from a quarter to a year.

Among specific categories, the uptrend of the SSD market has slowed down. However, due to the price increase of wafers and the shortage of main control chips, the quotation is chaotic. OEM manufacturers are holding positions and waiting, while the supply of goods in the distribution market is limited and the spot quotation fluctuates. This week, all capacities of NVME3.0 and 4.0 have increased, with the growth rates of 5% – 19% and 2% – 14% respectively. For SATA3.0, except for the 480G and 2T capacities which remain unchanged, the others have increased by 5% – 9%.

The uptrend of the DRAM market has slowed down, with prices stabilizing and slightly loosening. The market purchasing sentiment is optimistic, but the mentality is rational and cautious. The demand for consumer electronics terminals has not fully recovered, while the demand for data centers and AI servers is strong. The price increase in the early stage has greatly increased the cost pressure of relevant manufacturers, which has been passed on to consumers. This week, in the memory OEM market, only the 32G capacity in the D4 segment has decreased by 3%, and the rest and the D3 segment remain unchanged.

In the Flash chip market, the original factory contract price continues to rise, with the 64G TLC increasing by more than 10%, and the actual transaction price is even higher. The supply side has a clear intention to push up prices, and downstream customers need time to digest the costs. The tight spot supply has intensified the expectation of shortage, while the terminal demand has not kept pace, leading to passive inventory replenishment and wait – and – see attitude of customers.

The uptrend of the USB market has stabilized. The original factory wafers are still increasing in price, the supply of chips is tight and the quotation is chaotic. The cost pressure has been transmitted to the TF card market, and some capacities have increased slightly. If the upstream releases inventory in November, the growth rate is expected to stabilize. This week, in PCBA, only the 128G capacity has increased by 5%; in UDP, 4G – 8G and 32G have increased by 1% – 4%, 16G and 64G remain unchanged, and 128G has decreased by 12%; in TF cards, 32G – 128G have increased by 1% – 5%, and the rest remain unchanged.