Storage Market Faces Price Surge, Industry Players Take Actions
Recently, the global storage market has witnessed a new round of skyrocketing prices. The prices of DRAM and NAND Flash have surged significantly, prompting enterprises along the industrial chain to adjust their strategies one after another. From chip giants to end – user manufacturers, all have been affected.
In the spot market in November, the prices of storage products rose rapidly. The price of DDR4 16Gb chips soared by more than 60%, reaching 42.5 US dollars at present. After doubling in October, the price of DDR5 16Gb rose by another 55% in November. The performance of NAND Flash was even more striking. Its quotation in November increased by 100 – 150% compared with that in October, and the market was in a tight situation where there was no stock available for sale. It is worth noting that the prices of some products have increased several times compared with the beginning of 2025. The price of Wafer 512Gb TLC rose from 3 US dollars to 9 US dollars, with an increase of 200%.
Faced with the continuously heating market, leading enterprises have responded positively. Samsung Electronics has begun to ship DDR5 RDIMM and DDR4 modules in batches, but it still cannot meet the market demand. The official price of its DDR5 server modules in the fourth quarter increased by 65 – 70% compared with the third quarter, and is expected to rise by another 20% in the first quarter of 2026. Micron Technology’s target price was raised to 338 US dollars by Morgan Stanley. Institutions are optimistic about its core position in the AI storage field. Micron has shifted its high – end production lines to high – profit HBM products, further tightening the production capacity of standard storage.
Domestic enterprises are also accelerating their transformation and layout. Jiangbolong announced that it plans to raise no more than 3.7 billion yuan, focusing on the research and development of AI high – end memory, storage main control chips and high – end packaging and testing projects. Among them, the proportion of supplementary working capital is 29.7%, which is close to the regulatory upper limit, demonstrating its determination to transform into a semiconductor manufacturer. Nanya Technology, a Taiwanese enterprise in China, has achieved outstanding performance. Its profit in October alone reached 2.04 billion yuan, exceeding the total profit of the third quarter and increasing by nearly twice compared with September, benefiting from the continuous price increase caused by the supply – demand gap of DDR4.
The chain reaction in the terminal market has become apparent, and graphics card manufacturers have raised their prices across the board. AMD took the lead in adjusting prices. The unit price of the 8GB model increased by 20 US dollars, and that of the 16GB model increased by 40 US dollars. It is expected that the cumulative price increases within the year will be 300 yuan and 600 yuan respectively, and it will focus on three main models in 2027. NVIDIA has adopted a phased price adjustment strategy. After a small increase in December, it will launch the second round of price adjustment in January 2026, which is the first full – scale price increase in nearly three years.
Market analysis points out that the continuous demand for AI infrastructure is the core driving force behind this round of price increases. The supply chain has tilted its production capacity towards high – end products, leading to a shortage of standard storage supply and forming a market pattern of “rising tides lifting all boats”. It is expected that the storage prices will continue to rise in the first quarter of 2026, and enterprises in the industrial chain are expected to continue to benefit from this favorable market environment.