TL;DR
A late-June 2026 report from Thorsten Meyer AI says the memory shortage has moved into storage, with consumer NVMe SSDs and enterprise SSD contracts rising sharply. The report attributes the squeeze to NAND competing with HBM for production resources and AI systems consuming fast storage directly.
SSD prices have climbed sharply in 2026, according to a late-June report from Thorsten Meyer AI, which says the storage market has joined the wider memory crunch as AI demand and tight NAND supply push up costs for both consumer and enterprise drives.
The report says a 2TB consumer NVMe SSD that sold for about $120 to $150 in 2024 now lists at roughly $300 to $480, while a 1TB drive has about doubled compared with late 2025. It also cites enterprise SSD contract prices rising 53% to 58% in the first quarter of 2026.
Thorsten Meyer AI attributes the move to two forces. The first is supply competition: NAND flash uses production resources that also serve DRAM and HBM, and memory makers have favored higher-margin AI-related products. The second is direct demand: modern AI systems use fast storage for vector databases, retrieval-augmented generation, inference workloads and cache-heavy server designs.
The report says underlying NAND contract prices have risen by roughly four to four-and-a-half times over nine months. It also cites claims that Samsung and SK Hynix have reduced NAND wafer targets, while Micron has said it can meet only part of its main customers’ demand. Those supply-side statements remain company-reported or analyst-cited claims rather than independently verified production totals.
The SSD squeeze: storage joined the party
Storage was the last cheap thing in computing. Not anymore — a 2TB NVMe that was $120–150 in 2024 now lists at $300–480. And this time flash isn’t only collateral damage: AI eats storage directly.
both ways
Flash got hit twice — once as collateral sharing fabs with HBM, once directly as AI inference turned fast storage into something it consumes by the petabyte. That second force won’t fade; it grows with every model, every RAG pipeline, every cache that must live somewhere fast. Buy what you need now; favor TLC with DRAM cache, don’t overpay for Gen 5, watch for counterfeits. Relief isn’t forecast before late 2027. When the cheapest component in computing has a two-year waitlist, “commodity” no longer fits. Next: The High-End PC & Workstation Tax.
Storage Costs Hit Buyers
The price shift matters because storage had been one of the cheapest PC upgrades for much of the past decade. Higher SSD prices can raise costs for gaming PCs, workstations, small servers and creator systems, while pushing some prebuilt PCs back toward smaller base capacities such as 512GB.
For enterprise buyers, the effect may be larger. If hyperscalers and AI server operators absorb top-tier enterprise SSD supply, smaller cloud providers, industrial users and corporate IT teams may face higher quotes, longer waits or fewer configuration choices. The report says industrial and automotive storage using TLC or pSLC NAND is also seeing longer lead times.
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AI Adds Direct NAND Demand
The report frames the SSD increase as part of a broader 2026 memory shortage that began with RAM and HBM. Unlike RAM, however, storage is described as being squeezed from both sides: AI competes for factory capacity and also consumes large volumes of NAND flash inside deployed systems.
Thorsten Meyer AI estimates that a single high-end AI GPU may be paired with about 16TB of flash, while a full AI server rack can require more than 1,000TB of NAND. The report labels those figures as estimates, not audited industry totals. It also says newer inference systems can place SSDs closer to compute trays for key-value cache workloads, adding another source of demand.
“Storage was the last cheap thing in computing. Not anymore.”
— Thorsten Meyer AI report
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Price Relief Remains Unclear
Several details remain unsettled. It is not yet clear how much of the increase is caused by physical NAND shortage, how much comes from manufacturer supply discipline, and how much reflects temporary channel pricing. The report says the answer is likely a mix of real demand pressure and controlled supply, but it does not provide audited production data from each supplier.
The report also says QLC flash may be backordered for about two years in some cases, but that appears to refer to parts of the market rather than every SSD category. Consumer availability may vary by brand, controller, NAND type, region and retailer inventory.
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Late 2027 Relief Watch
The next test is whether suppliers expand NAND wafer starts, redirect capacity away from higher-margin AI memory, or keep prioritizing enterprise buyers. The report says meaningful relief is not forecast before late 2027, though pricing could still move sooner if demand slows or retail channels build inventory.
For buyers, the report advises purchasing needed capacity sooner, favoring TLC drives with DRAM cache, avoiding unnecessary premiums for Gen 5 SSDs, and watching for counterfeit products as prices rise. The next installment in the series is expected to address the high-end PC and workstation cost impact.
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Key Questions
What happened to SSD prices?
According to Thorsten Meyer AI, consumer NVMe SSDs have risen sharply, with 2TB drives moving from about $120 to $150 in 2024 to roughly $300 to $480 in late June 2026 listings.
Why is AI affecting SSD supply?
The report says AI affects storage in two ways: NAND competes with HBM for factory resources, and AI systems directly use large volumes of fast flash for inference, vector search and caching.
Are the price increases confirmed?
The report cites current retail ranges, contract-price estimates and supplier claims. The broad price increase is presented as a confirmed market development, while exact causes and production figures remain partly based on company statements and analyst reporting.
When could SSD prices fall again?
The report says relief is not expected before late 2027. That forecast could change if NAND output rises, AI demand cools, or retail inventories improve.
What should buyers do now?
The report advises buying only needed capacity, choosing TLC SSDs with DRAM cache where possible, avoiding inflated Gen 5 premiums, and checking sellers carefully because higher prices can attract counterfeit listings.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
