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The NAND Flash crisis...

winjer

winjer

Gold Member

Kioxia exec says this year's NAND is already sold out, 'cheap' 1TB SSD bargains are over


Kioxia Memory Business Unit managing director Shunsuke Nakato says 2026 supply is already locked in. Nakato described the current NAND market as a "high-end, high-price phase," and linked the squeeze to AI investment. Nakato also said the shortage is spreading from enterprise SSD demand into the consumer market.

Kioxia is not treating supply as first-come, first-served, or a highest-bid process, he adds. Nakato said delivery dates and volumes cannot be adjusted on demand, so Kioxia is using a "gentleman's agreement" approach built around yearly supply plans with long-term partners.
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This year's NAND supply has sold out, and it will continue until 2027…

— Shunsuke Nakato, Kioxia
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Nakato said some deals have seen "more than 30%" year-on-year increases, and said the cycle could run until at least 2027 because AI spending is not slowing.

The source of this interview, Digital Daily, reports the Korean Yokkaichi plant is run as a smart factory using AI and IoT, and collects about 50TB of manufacturing data per day to drive yield. Note, this is not how much memory is made, this is how much data they collect to improve this process.

Before the "RAMpocalypse," 1TB storage pricing sat at $99 to $159, depending on the vendor. It was also easy to find deals for less. Since November, prices have jumped by $50, or up to 130%, so these SSDs now sell for $149 to $299.
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Bryan Cranston Reaction GIF
 
all so companies like MS can shove AI down our throats, why do I need to first go to a copilot page to open my mail online? to annoy me more.. thats why
 
First it was GPUs, then it was RAM, now its SSDs... I feel bad for my PC gamer homies who were holding out on building a new rig. In an affordable fashion that ship has sailed for now.
 
That's why I bought a 24TB external. Seems I now need to get another SSD to shield myself from this bullshit. More money I don't have. My current NVME is getting old and this is gonna force me to buy before I actually want to. Damn.
 
All of this is going to snowball too as consumers and enterprise customers alike try to wait out the massive price increases.
 
I need to get a heatsink on the 2TB that came with my prebuilt. It's just sitting there as a bare drive right now. :(
I assume heat will kill the drive sooner.

People will finally start to buy Xboxes expansion cards to rip the memory out of them. Can those be reused as if they were regular SSD's?
 
I bought shit with ram this week and it was the normal price....also bought a SSD this week, Samsung T7. The T7 wasn't in the bargain bin territory I hoped but I was able to find it at a local walmart for cheap. Got a really good deal.

I act like this only because I have kinda been preparing for the market to skyrocket once this hits other devices. I have a new laptop and tablet, switch 2 and ps5 pro and and old xsx. I have my 3080. Thank goodness I have been collecting this shit over the years and it didn't ruin me to buy it all. I'm going to put applecare on everything apple and ride this shit out until the PS6.

I'm also using AI a LOT and it is really great for me personally. So I'm not mad, instead trying to position myself to continue to enjoy high end gaming but also enjoy the benefits of this ram even though I didn't buy it. It's been a lot of fun so far and I'm gonna keep going.
 
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Zacfoldor said:
I bought shit with ram this week and it was the normal price....also bought a SSD this week, Samsung T7. The T7 wasn't in the bargain bin territory I hoped but I was able to find it at a local walmart for cheap. Got a really good deal.

I act like this only because I have kinda been preparing for the market to skyrocket once this hits other devices. I have a new laptop and tablet, switch 2 and ps5 pro and and old xsx. I have my 3080. Thank goodness I have been collecting this shit over the years and it didn't ruin me to buy it all. I'm going to put applecare on everything apple and ride this shit out until the PS6.

I'm also using AI a LOT and it is really great for me personally. So I'm not mad, instead trying to position myself to continue to enjoy high end gaming but also enjoy the benefits of this ram even though I didn't buy it. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I'm gonna keep going.
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Apparently Walmart has been fighting for the consumer lately, lol. I've seen so many people get good prices on GPUs and RAM. But yeah, there's just a lot of developments and researchers stating that it's something that is practically inevitable at this point if we keep going in the direction we're going in. However it's not something that's going to just suddenly skyrocket over night.

Am I scared and freaking out? Lol, no. I don't think anyone should be, but I think it's important to be aware as a just in case.
 
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All in the name of giving people tools that will undoubtedly harm society. Not saying there are not legitimate use cases, I just believe the harm outweighs the good.
 
MiguelItUp said:
Apparently Walmart has been fighting for the consumer lately, lol. I've seen so many people get good prices on GPUs and RAM. But yeah, there's just a lot of developments and researchers stating that it's something that is practically inevitable at this point if we keep going in the direction we're going in. However it's not something that's going to just suddenly skyrocket over night.

Am I scared and freaking out? Lol, no. I don't think anyone should be, but I think it's important to be aware as a just in case.
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Absolutely mate. I think this is a great area of discussion. Things are going to get tight this year for sure. There is only so much we can do but don't give up as there will always be surprise deals. It's like the movie Castaway. You never know what a new day will bring.

The freakouters, I hope they aren't either but I'm sure many are. This will be a bit of a rollercoaster. At least we can't say we don't live in interesting times. I can't quell existential fears about AI but I can give my anecdotal experience that there is something in AI for us plebs too. We just need time to generate the courage and understanding to seize that opportunity as this is all very new for most people.
 
Pedro Motta said:
Like I said many times before, and everyday I believe it more: They are pricing us out of hardware so we have everything in the cloud.
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Will this work though? Maybe I'm too naive, but part of me believes this is a case of some CEO's wet dream and nothing else. I feel like most people will just stop demanding and go back to whatever hardware/games they already own. I want to believe that most people, even outside enthusiast forums like this one, still want some level of ownership. Atleast I really hope so..
 
Kurotri said:
Will this work though? Maybe I'm too naive, but part of me believes this is a case of some CEO's wet dream and nothing else. I feel like most people will just stop demanding and go back to whatever hardware/games they already own. I want to believe that most people, even outside enthusiast forums like this one, still want some level of ownership. Atleast I really hope so..
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It wont work and I don't even believe this is what they are trying to do.
 
We are not more the target audience. Big tech companies will get everything and then will try to sell the solution through cloud.

Fuck the future.
 
winjer said:
I bought a Seagate Barracuda 16TB for 280€ in mid September. They are now at 388€.
They have been slowly but steadily going up in price.

V23NXjQiysGrHqwx.jpg
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Huh, maybe it's hitting Europe but I just priced out 4 8tb drives for around 650. Yeah I'm jumping on it ASAP
 
Zacfoldor said:
Absolutely mate. I think this is a great area of discussion. Things are going to get tight this year for sure. There is only so much we can do but don't give up as there will always be surprise deals. It's like the movie Castaway. You never know what a new day will bring.

The freakouters, I hope they aren't either but I'm sure many are. This will be a bit of a rollercoaster. At least we can't say we don't live in interesting times. I can't quell existential fears about AI but I can give my anecdotal experience that there is something in AI for us plebs too. We just need time to generate the courage and understanding to seize that opportunity as this is all very new for most people.
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How's the 3080 holding up? What resolution do you play at with the 3080?

Anyway, I am kinda in the same situation as you and have the same plan. In fact, I just got a second legion go 2 unit today cos the new batches being released are coming with massive price increases(almost 50% more in my country). Managed to snag one unit today from initial batch, with the original pricing. It comes with a 2 year Lenovo warranty and extended 2 year store warranty. So 4 years warranty in total.

In 2025, also got
1. New iPad Pro
2. Built 2 new mid-high end PC rigs
3. Samsung Bravia QD-Oled tv
4. New in box ROG ally at bargain bin prices
5. Legion Go (too good of a deal to not buy it)
6. Legion Go 2 (now have 2 units, one at launch, just got another today)
7. Switch 2
8. Base PS5 (to go with my Sony Bravia)
9. Spare OG switch (as a backup machine and also because I hate how Switch 1 games look on Switch 2, also I have a massive physical collection of Switch 1 games)
10. 2 almost new condition PS Vitas


I plan to ride this out until end of 2027.
Though I am highly interested in the playstation handheld that's supposedly coming in 2027, we will see if it still releases in 2027, and what's the situation with supply and pricing.

Also MAYBE might jump on the RTX 60 series if it releases in 2027, but I am waiting on official specs of PS6 to make sure I get a card that is a good deal more beefy than the PS6 to ride out the next gen.
 
What if there was a tech bro crisis, where all of them; no matter what house they decided to sleep in that night, find someone hiding in their bathroom waiting for security to clock out? People don't realize it, but all the personalities you see online and on TV have bathrooms and dark spaces around their water heaters where no one goes.
 
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I've got a 990 Pro 4TB on my desk that I bought a few months ago and haven't had the time (or need) to install. Paid 399$, now 799$ CAD.
 
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