Nvidia’s latest AI systems not only contain a lot of RAM, but they also crave sufficient SSD storage.
The AI boom will further stifle the component market for servers and PCs in the coming year. It is no longer a secret that RAM prices have risen exuberantly due to demand from the AI market. Now SSDs are threatened with the same fate.
After all, AI systems not only need large amounts of (HMB) memory. The chips work in tandem with large datasets, stored on flash storage. This is already being felt today. Since October, the average price of an SSD has skyrocketed, heading towards a doubling compared to the price this summer.
Millions of terabytes for Vera Rubin
That price increase will continue, again mainly thanks to Nvidia. The newly announced Vera Rubin systems from Nvidia would require approximately 1,152 TB of SSD NAND per server, according to Citi. Around 30,000 Vera Rubin systems are expected to be shipped in 2026. Another 100,000 are said to be on the order book for 2027. A little back-of-the-envelope calculation based on the estimates tells us that just under 150 million TB of SSD NAND will be needed in the next two years, solely to feed the very latest Nvidia hardware.
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For 2026, this amounts to 34.6 million TB or approximately 2.8 percent of the global NAND market. In 2027, that share rises to 9.3 percent. According to forecasts, 9.3 percent of all demand for NAND memory for SSDs in 2027 will come from Nvidia Vera Rubin servers alone. Nvidia also sells other AI servers that require flash storage, and that’s not to mention AMD-driven systems such as the Helios racks with Instinct MI400.
Inadequate production capacity
Production capacity for NAND is already inadequate today. Even without an economics degree, you can guess what the impact of the enormous increase in demand will be. In addition to RAM, NAND will also continue to rise significantly in price, resulting in higher prices per gigabyte for SSDs. As with memory, this will initially be felt for individual components and external SSDs. Sooner or later, the price increase will also trickle down to the PC market.
Anyone who needs a new PC is already too late to buy it at a favorable rate. Unfortunately, the situation will only get worse. Making a decision sooner rather than later remains good advice. Any extra production capacity at manufacturers will take years to materialize. Unless the AI bubble suddenly bursts, there is no solution to the rising prices in the short term.