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AI Boom Skyrockets SSD Prices
23 Mar
Summary
- External drive prices at Apple stores have significantly increased.
- A 4TB SanDisk SSD jumped from $500 to $1,200, a 140% hike.
- AI data centers are driving demand for memory and storage chips.
The escalating demand for AI data centers has triggered a significant price surge for consumer storage devices, particularly external SSDs. Apple stores have become a focal point for these price hikes, with a 4TB SanDisk external solid-state drive now priced at $1,200, a substantial increase from its previous $500 cost. Similarly, a 1TB version has seen its price jump from $120 to $360.
This crisis in storage and RAM availability is directly linked to the burgeoning AI industry. Large-scale AI projects, such as OpenAI's Stargate initiative, require vast amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HBM). The immense profitability of these high-end chips has led semiconductor manufacturers to reduce production capacity for consumer-grade DRAM and SSD storage. This reallocation of resources is impacting even major tech companies and is beginning to affect the prices of traditional hard drives as well.
