Although NAND manufacturers have recently been enjoying high revenues thanks to higher prices, Phison CEO K. S. Pua says further price hikes could seriously reduce demand (via Digitimes). Instead of allowing demand to outstrip supply, Pua says manufacturers should try and meet demand with increased production.
The recent price increases for NAND flash, and by extension SSDs, is a reaction to the experience NAND manufacturers had in 2022 and 2023. While the COVID-19 pandemic fueled strong demand for computer components, this demand significantly fell once things (mostly) got back to normal. But NAND companies like Samsung and Micron didn't anticipate such a sharp decline in demand, and so had way more supply than they actually needed. Consequently, prices had to come down in order to boost demand and offload all the excess NAND.
