As artificial intelligence extends from training to inference and edge devices, demand for high-capacity storage continues to heat up, leading to supply tightening. According to supply chain sources, Micron Technology's senior management observed that customer demand forecasts indicate significant supply shortages, prompting the company to urgently suspend all product quotations and readjust subsequent pricing.
Micron Technology has notified customers that quotations for all storage products including DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR4, and LPDDR5 have been suspended for one week, with related product prices potentially rising by 20%-30%. The suspension covers not only consumer-grade and industrial-grade storage products, but automotive electronic products face even higher increases, expected to reach 70%.
Industry analysts suggest that Micron Technology's move reflects structural changes in high-capacity storage products against the backdrop of rapidly emerging AI inference, with product demand experiencing substantial growth.
Prior to this development, NAND flash memory manufacturer SanDisk announced last week a 10% universal price increase for all channel partners and consumer products, following a 10% price increase across its entire product line in April. The company stated that NAND flash memory product demand remains strong amid growing storage requirements in AI applications, data centers, client devices, and mobile sectors. The company indicated it will continue regular price evaluations and may make further adjustments in upcoming quarters.
Notably, both SanDisk's and Micron Technology's price increases are not driven by cost pressures, but rather by observed "strong demand" from downstream markets.
From the demand perspective, AI applications are driving robust storage demand across data centers, client devices, and mobile sectors. On the supply side, the industry faces supply constraints - NAND producers are shifting output toward next-generation nodes, causing shortages in low-density chips, while some suppliers face financial difficulties that hinder near-term capacity expansion.
Industry research indicates that the pricing trend is an inevitable result of storage industry demand recovery. Supply-demand rebalancing drives price recovery, technological iteration reshapes product value, and AI with edge computing generates new industry demand. On the supply side, leading manufacturers have actively reduced production over recent years, while downstream demand from consumer terminals gradually recovers and AI and data center scenarios experience rapid demand growth, promoting price differentiation and normalized dynamic pricing.
Technologically, NAND is evolving toward ultra-high layer stacking, DRAM toward high-bandwidth directions like HBM, and interface standards continue upgrading, driving sustained product value enhancement. In applications, storage capacity has become core AI infrastructure, generating strong demand in tiered storage and trusted storage sectors.
Regarding competitive landscape, international giants maintain pricing power while Chinese manufacturers accelerate domestic substitution, with the industry transitioning from traditional "scale competition" toward "technology-depth competition."