Introduction As we enter March, the NAND market has shown early signs of recovery. Major industry players are signaling significant price hikes starting in April, driven by supply constraints and the booming demand for AI-related storage solutions.
NAND Manufacturers Announce Double-Digit Hikes Recently, SanDisk issued a pricing notice to customers, announcing a comprehensive price increase of over 10% across all channels and consumer products, effective April 1st. SanDisk also indicated that prices will remain under review, with potential further increases in subsequent quarters.
Following SanDisk, other giants including Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix are also planning April price adjustments. Micron has already raised quotes for new orders by an average of 11%, partly due to supply disruptions caused by a power outage at its Singapore plant earlier this year. Phison, a leading NAND controller vendor, reported that Micron has struggled to meet delivery requirements for orders placed as early as December 2024.
Supply Tightens Amid Production Cuts Samsung and SK Hynix have been implementing production cuts, leading to a more than 10% decrease in Q1 2025 supply compared to the second half of 2024. Industry sources report that Samsung’s March deliveries reached only 20%-25% of original order volumes. While officially attributed to tight capacity, many see this as a strategic move to pave the way for a 10% or higher price hike in April.
Market Outlook for 2025: Stability and AI Growth The global memory market reached a record $167 billion in revenue in 2024—an 85.53% increase—fueled by strong demand for AI servers. However, the market saw a slight dip in Q4 2024. Looking ahead to 2025, the global storage market is expected to see a modest growth of 2% as inventory levels stabilize.
AI Storage: The New Market Drivers (HBM & DDR5) The spotlight has shifted to AI-focused products like High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and DDR5.
- DDR5 Demand: New product launches from AMD (Turin CPU), Intel (Granite Rapids CPU), and NVIDIA (B300/GB300 GPUs) in the second half of the year are expected to significantly drive server-grade DDR5 demand.
- The HBM Boom: HBM has become the “superstar” of 2025, now accounting for nearly 30% of the total DRAM market. With the shift from CPU-centric to GPU/NPU-centric computing, HBM4 is expected to drive even more customization by 2026.
Leading Players See Improved Margins The “Big Three”—SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron—continue to dominate nearly 90% of the global market.
- SK Hynix remains the HBM leader with a 53% market share, followed by Samsung (38%) and Micron (10%).
- Driven by its successful HBM line, SK Hynix achieved a record-breaking 102% revenue growth over the past year.
Analysts remain optimistic for Q2 2025, expecting a shift from pessimism to a more positive outlook as profitability improves across general memory products.
