Oversupply means NAND flash prices will drop further, says TrendForce

The DRAMeXchange division of TrendForce, a market analyst company, is predicting that the slight oversupply of NAND flash present in the first quarter of 2018 is likely to continue through to the middle of the year. While we are currently seeing savings of a few dollars per drive, these prices could decrease further before a predicted increase in demand later in the year returns rates to normal.

DRAMeXchange also says that some manufacturers have delayed plans to expand their production capabilities. This delay — combined with the predicted increase in demand — will likely result in an increase in prices later in the year due to a short supply. 2019 may return to normal as a relatively new player, Yangtze Memory Technologies Company (YMTC), will start shipping significant volumes of NAND flash next year.

This market analysis of NAND flash includes that used for eMMC and UFS storage in phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and budget PC’s, as well as that used in M.2 and SATA based SSDs for consumer and business computers.