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Growth in client SSD contract prices has slowed sharply under multiple market pressures. Surging costs from other component shortages and excess system inventory forced buyers into cautious procurement. Meanwhile, suppliers held prices firm by shifting capacity toward enterprise SSDs. This stalemate is expected to keep contract prices plateauing at elevated levels moving forward.
Capital expenditure in artificial intelligence infrastructure has significantly boosted demand for enterprise solid-state drives and high-capacity storage, driving top memory suppliers to record revenue and profitability in the second quarter. Despite weaker momentum in smartphones and retail spot markets, major manufacturers are maintaining strict capital discipline while accelerating transitions to high-layer advanced nodes. By prioritizing high-performance storage solutions for server architectures, suppliers aim to capture expanding infrastructure opportunities and sustain long-term margin growth.
Memory chip prices hitting record highs have damaged customer demand, causing contract price growth to narrow significantly. Suppliers aim to sustain high unit prices by diverting capacity to enterprise applications, whereas buyers strongly resist after reaching cost limits. Driven by Chinese vendors capturing market share with lower price hikes, upward momentum has slowed markedly. As the impact of supply restrictions fades, the market will enter a plateau, with future direction hinging on end-market clearance and capacity reallocation.
With mobile DRAM inventory restocking largely completed and demand starting to soften, the urgency of procurement negotiations has diminished, and 3Q26 contract price settlements are likely to be pushed back further. On the pricing front, Samsung’s hikes have clearly moderated this quarter, as its previous quotes were already at elevated levels; by contrast, if SK hynix and CXMT aim to close the pricing gap, their increases will appear relatively more pronounced. TrendForce projects that the overall quarterly hike will narrow from last quarter to around 8-13% QoQ.
Looking ahead to 4Q26, under the combined pressure of weak end demand and elevated inventory levels, price increases are expected to further converge. However, the ongoing trend of suppliers shifting capacity toward server and HBM applications will remain intact, providing key support for keeping quarterly contract prices from falling back.
For the price chart of global end prices of SSD, TrendForce segments product categories in accordance with capacity (from 120GB to 2048GB and above) and user interface (SATA3, PCIe 3.0/4.0/5.0).
In July, high prices combined with weak consumer demand paralyzed the NAND Flash wafer market, resulting in flat contract prices and extremely low transaction volumes. While mainstream TLC and QLC prices stagnated, MLC recorded slight gains due to supply scarcity and substitution constraints. Overall market sentiment remains strictly cautious.
Resource reallocation to advanced processes has constrained niche capacity. Driven by inelastic demand in networking and automotive applications alongside severe shortages, SLC prices have surged sharply. While MLC retains baseline demand support, downstream cost tolerance has reached its limit, narrowing price gains toward high-level consolidation. Looking ahead, market trajectories are expected to diverge further, with SLC remaining strong and MLC leveling off.
Global server demand remains solid, sustaining stable Enterprise SSD orders. As suppliers boost production, improved supply has eased urgent order pressures and moderated quarterly contract price increases. Looking ahead, rising supply and delayed platform shipments will further cool price gains. Concurrently, the widening unit capacity price gap between high-density SSDs and HDDs is eroding total cost of ownership advantages, posing long-term growth challenges under strict enterprise cost controls.
Steady momentum in AI infrastructure builds is driving robust demand for cloud and server storage, supporting original suppliers in maintaining extremely low inventories and strong pricing leverage. Conversely, squeezed by elevated costs and sluggish demand, consumer electronics brands and module makers have turned conservative, keeping only minimal operational stocks. Consequently, the third-quarter market will exhibit a stark polarization—robust cloud demand contrasted with a muted peak season for consumer products.
Driven by robust AI server demand and capacity displacement from HBM, combined with delayed output from new fabs, DRAM supply remains tightly constrained, sustaining a seller's market. Conversely, boosted by the rollout of new capacity alongside weak consumer demand, NAND Flash is shifting toward a looser supply-demand structure and will face downward price adjustment pressure in the second half of the year, underscoring a clear divergence in their market cycles.
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