Phison CEO paints grim picture for the SSD storage market

Phison CEO confirms major NAND price hikes, confirming that all 2026 NAND production is sold out

Khein-Seng Pua, the CEO of Phison, has confirmed that growing AI datacenter demand has created chaos in the global SSD market. According to Digitimes, the CEO confirmed that TLC 1-terabit NAND pricing has more than doubled between July 2025 and today. What’s worse is that the CEO confirmed that most NAND manufacturers have already “sold out” all of their planned 2026 production. Phison Electronics is a company that specialises in SSD controllers (like their famed E28 controller) and enterprise-grade SSD storage solutions.

Pua doesn’t expect NAND pricing to fall anytime soon. He warned that new NAND production lines may not go online until late 2027. Tight NAND supply is expected to be the new industry standard, at least for the next few years.

(Phison’s share price has more than doubled over the past six months – source: Yahoo Finance)

Phison recently released its Q3 2025 financial report. The company’s revenues were up 30% over the prior year, though overall operating profits fell due to increased R&D for future memory technologies. Phison has stated that it is now prioritising its enterprise and industrial clients. The company is deliberately reducing its retail shipments to focus on higher-margin customers. Phison’s SSD production will be limited by NAND shortages, so it makes sense to focus on its most profitable products.

If Phison’s predictions are accurate, the consumer SSD market is going to suffer from decreased supply and higher prices. Once again, demand for AI datacenters can be blamed for this. These higher NAND prices will increase the cost of all products that use NAND memory. Basically, if it has a computer in it, it’s probably going to become more expensive.

You can join the discussion on Phison’s grim predictions for the SSD market on the OC3D Forums.