Subj : SSD prices are about to skyrocket  and you can probably guess why
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Wed Aug 14 2024 13:45:06

SSD prices are about to skyrocket  and you can probably guess why

Date:
Wed, 14 Aug 2024 12:32:55 +0000

Description:
AI companies are ordering more and more SSDs, with constrained supply 
translating to higher purchase prices.

FULL STORY
======================================================================

Soaring demand for AI-capable infrastructure is causing a spike in orders for 
SSDs , and manufacturers are raising the prices across the board. 

Market analysis by TrendForce has claimed demand is expected to rise by 60% 
in the coming years, pushing suppliers to boost development and manufacturing 
and focus on producing higher-capacity products to meet the growing needs of 
power- and data-hungry AI tools . 

Though HDDs have played a crucial role in data storage over the years, the 
lower latency of SSDs has become preferential in an increasingly AI-focused 
era. AI is to blame for skyrocketing SSD prices 

Solid state drives are useful for storing model parameters and creating 
checkpoints to save AI model progress in order to ensure quick recovery in 
the case of interruptions. They typically prove more reliable, with quarterly 
and annualized failure rates reported by cloud storage giant Backblaze 
showing stronger performance compared with HDDs (however its worth noting 
that more in-house data is available for HDDs thus a totally fair comparison 
cannot be drawn). 

Theyre also important for inference, where they allow real-time updates to 
models. However, because of this, high-capacity drives with at least 16TB of 
storage are required, with prices considerably higher than the equivalent 
HDD. 

TrendForce highlighted the rising demand has already pushed contract prices 
for SSDs up by an eye-watering 80% in the space of three quarters. Moreover, 
the overall capacity of AI-related SSDs procured in 2024 is expected to 
exceed 45 exabytes (45 million terabytes). 

Enterprise customers arent the only ones being affected consumer SSD prices 
have also seen a significant and sustained price increase in recent quarters 
thanks to constricted supply. 

Although work is being done to improve SSD storage, including higher-density 
NAND flash components, AIs impact on SSD prices could continue to be seen for 
many more quarters, increasing the strain on both business and consumer 
markets alike. 

Via The Register More from TechRadar Pro 256TB SSDs could land before 2026 
with a surprisingly low price  but will most likely use a controversial and 
popular trick borrowed from tape technology These are the best external hard 
drives around today In need of an upgrade? Here are the fastest SSDs on offer



======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/ssd-prices-are-about-to-skyrocket-and-you-can-pr
obably-guess-why


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)

.