AI RAM Shortage Pushes SSD Prices Higher
▼ Summary
– The price of a specific 2TB WD Black SSD has surged from $173 to $649, a near quadrupling since late 2025.
– The 4TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD has seen its price jump from around $320 to nearly $1,000.
– External SanDisk SSDs experienced a 200 percent price increase at the Apple Store in March.
– Sony has announced it is suspending orders for its SD and CFexpress memory cards.
– These SSD price hikes are part of a broader trend affecting storage and RAM components.
The cost of high-performance storage has entered a new and painful era. A personal example illustrates the scale of the shift: a WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD purchased for $173 in 2024 now carries a staggering price tag of $649. This represents a nearly fourfold increase since just November of last year, a trend that mirrors the ongoing RAM shortage and is impacting consumer SSDs across the entire market.
Specific models tell the same story of rapid inflation. The 4TB Samsung 990 Pro, once available for around $320, now approaches $1,000. In March, external SanDisk SSDs saw their prices at the Apple Store surge by 200 percent. The supply chain strain is so severe that Sony has publicly announced it is suspending orders for its SD and CFexpress memory cards due to an inability to meet demand.
This market upheaval is directly tied to the explosive growth of artificial intelligence. AI servers require vast quantities of both high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and fast storage, creating unprecedented competition for the same advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity. As producers prioritize these lucrative, enterprise-grade components, the supply of consumer NAND flash for SSDs has tightened dramatically. The result is a classic supply shock, where scarcity meets sustained demand, pushing retail prices to levels that were unthinkable just a year ago. For PC builders and consumers looking to upgrade their storage, the era of cheap, high-capacity solid-state drives has abruptly ended.
(Source: The Verge)
