Samsung raised the price of its 3D NAND flash memory by 10% in the first half of this month after the US Department of Commerce blacklisted YMTC ( China ).
According to Tom’s Hardware , the blacklisting of YMTC is the reason why Apple decided not to buy the company’s 3D NAND memory for the iPhone 14 sold in China. Meanwhile, other PC manufacturers are also suspending orders with YMTC because they don’t want to get involved in political issues, or they are not sure if YMTC can supply enough memory in time.
Due to the blacklist, US-based companies will not be able to provide YMTC with the necessary tools for 3D NAND chip machining without the appropriate export permits issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security. issued by the US Department of Commerce.
Without YMTC , demand for 3D NAND memory would increase at other manufacturers such as Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix. And that’s why Samsung raised the price. It is still unclear how this increase in Samsung’s 3D NAND price will affect the price of 3D NAND in general and solid-state drives (SSD) in particular.
Samsung is not a major supplier of 3D NAND to SSD manufacturers, especially the leading SSD manufacturers, so Samsung’s price increase may not have a significant impact on SSD prices . Even so, it remains to be seen what moves are coming from Micron and Hynix. In the event that these companies reduce their 3D NAND production, there will be a real impact on the market.
Research firm TrendForce believes that, since device manufacturers actually have a lot of 3D NAND available, the impact of production cuts will not be apparent in the fourth quarter of 2022. However, things could be different from the first quarter of next year.