SanDisk Corp. could double the price of its high-capacity 3D NAND memory devices for enterprise-grade solid-state drives this quarter, anticipating strong demand for server-class storage in the coming quarters, Tom's Hardware reported, citing Nomura Securities.
It is not clear to what extent the price increase of high-capacity 3D NAND will affect quotes on mainstream flash memory used in client devices, the report added.
Sandisk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
Channel checks indicate that several memory suppliers continued to push prices higher, with enterprise-grade NAND facing especially aggressive increases," the analysts noted. "SanDisk’s NAND used in enterprise SSDs is cited as potentially rising by more than 100% quarter over quarter in the March period."
Nomura thinks that the plans of memory suppliers to raise prices of enterprise-grade 3D NAND both to short-term shortages and to mid-term growth of demand, driven by AI in general and changes to AI storage in particular, according to the report.
Nomura names Nvidia's (NVDA) Inference Context Memory Storage Platform, or ICMSP, which is based on the BlueField-4 DPU equipped with a 512 GB SSD that carries KV cache, among the demand drivers for enterprise storage this year, the report noted.
Shares of SanDisk jumped about 13% on Friday, while stocks of other memory product makers also surged. Micron (MU) rose 6%, Seagate Technology (STX) surged nearly 7%, while Western Digital (WDC) climbed around 7%.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are looking to raise prices for server memory by up to 70% in the first quarter, while a surging demand in AI impacts global supply.
