The worst excesses of NAND price volatility appear to be coming to an end, as Wall Street analysts throw their weight behind newly independent SanDisk.
According to reports over the weekend, Mizuho tech analyst Jordan Klein sent a note to investors last week saying that SanDisk had told customers it would be jacking up NAND product prices by at least 10 percent from the end of this month.
Apparently, SanDisk has told customers it expects demand to begin outstripping supply, with rising tariffs also feeding into its decision to markup the price list.
No one likes having to pay more for anything. At the same time, a 10 percent price bump would be a more palatable hike than the 30 percent price growth the industry was expecting earlier this year.
We’ve contacted SanDisk and Klein but have yet to hear back from either.
Sandisk only separated from erstwhile parent Western Digital at the end of last month. Over the last couple of weeks a number of other Wall Street analysts have begun coverage of the company with overweight recommendations, implying they believe the stock will outperform. Which in turn suggests they foresee a more predictable pricing environment and are not expecting prices to head south anytime soon.
Trendforce adds that other suppliers had already curbed production due to oversupply.
Philip Kaye, cofounder of Manchester-based datacenter infrastructure supplier Vespertec, said that the market can, at least, expect a lull in NAND price volatility. A post-Covid glut and the war in Ukraine had driven prices to record lows, he said, before giving way to a period of enormous fluctuations.
“Recently, however, the rate of price increases has levelled off to around 5-6 percent, a trend likely to continue into next year barring any external shocks.” Which should be reassuring. If you haven’t come to the conclusion that in the future, “external shocks” are the new normal.
