SSD prices may climb five to 10 percent due to a shortage in Q2 2022 because of contamination at the Western Digital plant.
Western Digital reports that certain materials in two of its factories in Japan became contaminated. Result: at least 6.5 exobytes (6.5 billion gigabytes) of NAND memory for SSDs, among others, can go into the trash. Western Digital includes the WD, SanDisk, G-Technology (known today as SanDisk Pro) and HGST brands.
The contamination occurred, according to Reuters news agency, at factories that Western Digital operates jointly with Kioxia, one of the world’s largest producers of flash and solid state memory. Kioxia, meanwhile, also distributed a comprehensive statement with more information about the affected factories.
The company is counting on a speedy recovery, but did not share whether production will be active again today.
The impact on Western Digital is already significant. The company shipped 24 exobytes of storage in Q4 2021. Potentially for Q1 2022, it lost about 27 percent due to the contamination.
Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers reports to The Register that there was still demand for 160 exobytes of NAND in Q4 2021. If the same demand is there again this quarter, five to 10 percent of the market will not be served depending on how quickly factories are operational again. Therefore, NAND prices are likely to rise five to 10 percent in the coming period.
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