SSD Prices May Rise Into 2026 as QLC Shortage Looms
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Key points
- Micron halted all NAND and DRAM price quotes, while SanDisk lifted NAND prices 10% earlier.
- Cloud providers are moving data to SSDs, raising QLC shortage risk by 2026 as demand for eSSD accelerates.
- Pricing pressure will hit the largest NVMe SSDs first, with PS5 and Xbox Series X|S expansion cards included.
Micron suspended NAND and DRAM quotes on September 15, 2025. Enterprise SSD demand is rising, and NAND prices are expected to continue growing. QLC memory shortage may occur by 2026 as cloud storage providers shift to eSSDs.
Micron Technology, a major US memory chip maker and the company behind the Crucial consumer brand, paused price quotes for both NAND and DRAM to its customers on September 15. The report from DigiTimes indicates that Micron halted quotes for a short period to reassess pricing in response to stronger demand, a common move ahead of a pricing reset.
Days earlier, SanDisk, another US memory manufacturer, informed partners of a roughly 10% NAND price increase effective around September 4-5. This step raised expectations and signaled a tightening market due to rising AI demands, which Micron’s pause reinforces.
DigiTimes reported on September 16 that cloud providers are moving more cold data off HDDs and onto enterprise SSDs. That shift concentrates demand on QLC NAND, the cost-efficient building block for high-capacity SSDs, and could leave QLC in short supply by 2026.
Monthly TrendForce analytics on NAND Flash says enterprise SSD orders are accelerating, suppliers are prioritizing higher-margin products, and “strategic price hikes” are already in play, with NAND prices expected to rise from here. The report adds that supply may be behind demand by 2026, and the imbalance could widen as nearline SSD adoption for CSPs accelerates.
What This Means for Gamers: SSD Prices Into 2026
All of the above may result in higher SSD prices into 2026. Price pressure will initially affect the largest consumer drives, as many use QLC. Firstly, 4-8 TB NVMe drives for PC builds and large external SSDs. Console storage is affected too: PlayStation 5 supports M.2 SSD upgrades up to 8 TB, and Xbox Series X|S uses proprietary expansion cards up to 4 TB.
As demand rises and QLC supply tightens even more, that pressure is likely to expand to non-QLC models as well, so consumer prices for TLC and higher-end SSDs will likely rise later and by less. Shortage in one segment can cause a ripple effect across the entire PC storage market.
NAND is the non-volatile memory chip that SSDs, USB sticks, and memory cards are built from. It keeps data without power and has no moving parts, which is why SSDs are fast and durable compared to HDDs. For a detailed guide to gaming SSDs, see our separate article.
