NAND Flash memory are the memory circuits that are used when making SSDs, USB memory sticks and memory cards, and but the record high harddrive prices the demand for NAND circuits is relatively low. This tends for continued lower prices this year.
Unlike the harddrive market that suffers from radical shortage the NAND flash market suffers from a surplus. This together with low demand means the pries of not the least MLC NAND flash, that is used in most SSDs, will continue to drop during the Winter.
One of the reasons for the large production volumes on the NAND market is the transition to more efficient 20nm-grade technologies, which allows manufacturers to produce more circuits per wafer.
Apparently the sales of USB memories and memory cards is going slower than expected, which is a bit surprising. According to DRAMeXchange prices fell for all MLC NAND chips in October, the most 16 gigabit chips dropped by 5.6%.
NAND flash from SanDisk in the test lab here at NordicHardware
If the trend continues and NAND prices continue to drop we should see the effects of this also in retail. Harddrive prices are the least to say extreme, and will remain so for several months, which opens up the door for SSDs. If the SSD manufacturers will be able to lower prices through lower NAND prices this could be an exciting SSD Winter.
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