[News] Samsung Reportedly Denies Plans to Halt Consumer SATA III SSDs Amid Tight NAND Supply

The memory shortage continues as brands shift resources toward higher-value products. According to TechPowerUp, sources say Samsung is considering suspending its consumer SATA III SSD production amid tightening NAND flash supply, though the company says it currently has no such plans, as Wccftech indicates.

South Korean outlet MToday, citing YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead, indicates that Samsung has reportedly begun scaling back its SATA SSD production, with output expected to be fully phased out early next year. Existing contracted volumes will be fulfilled, but no new production is planned.

TechPowerUp notes that most NAND flash is being allocated to data center customers, leaving limited availability for the lower-margin consumer market. The impact is likely confined to standard SATA III SSDs and does not affect Samsung’s popular M.2 PCIe NVMe drives. The report also says that sources indicate Samsung is shifting NAND flash production lines at its Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong fabs toward DRAM. The upcoming Pyeongtaek Fab 4 (P4) is likewise expected to operate exclusively as a DRAM facility, using Samsung’s latest 1c process.

NAND Tightness Driven by Strategic Reallocation Toward AI

TrendForce notes that Samsung’s reported strategy indicates that the current situation in the NAND market is not a simple supply shortage, but rather a deliberate prioritization of capacity and value allocation toward AI and data-center demand. Samsung has further reallocated resources toward DRAM as demand for DRAM and HBM remains strong, lowering NAND’s strategic priority within its product portfolio.

Module makers and smaller brands, with limited bargaining power, are bearing the brunt of this shift. TrendForce believes that the overall supply–demand imbalance is unlikely to ease in the near term, with pricing and supply pressures potentially persisting through the end of 2026.

This NAND tight supply is also weighing on brands. According to TechNews, Transcend said its fourth-quarter NAND flash allocations were cut by major suppliers SanDisk and Samsung. The company warned that the severe shortages and sharp price increases are likely to persist for another three to five months.

Read more

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(Photo credit: Samsung)