Price hike announced for Western Digital HDDs as AI blamed for rising storage prices
Following SanDisk and Micron, Western Digital (WD) is also adjusting its HDD prices in response to high demand. The company has reportedly issued notices to its customers stating that effective immediately, though gradually, there will be a price increase on all HDD products. This comes after SanDisk announced a 10% NAND price hike and Micron froze pricing for a week.
WD’s notice to its customers states that it has seen unprecedented demand for all capacities of its HDDs and that’s due to the rapid advancement of AI. Tech giants, according to a report by TechNews, are expanding their AI infrastructure which has led to this increase in demand for high-capacity storage. High demand has led to stock depletion which has led to higher prices.
WD also states that it is expanding its use of ocean freights to reduce emissions. However, this would increase shipping times by about six to 10 weeks.
The company is the third major hardware manufacturer in this space to have adjusted its pricing. SanDisk recently announced a 10% price hike for its NAND flash across all channels. Then, last week, Micron notified its customers that it will suspend pricing on all products for one week. This meant that quotations to distributors and OEM/ODM manufacturers were stopped for DRAM and NAND products.
For the end user, this would mean higher prices for HDDs, possibly SSDs, and longer shipping times. As for exactly when these changes will take effect, remains to be seen.
