Samsung Electronics has announced plans to raise prices for its enterprise-class solid-state drives (SSDs) by 20-25% in the second quarter of 2024, TechRadar reports.

This is a significant increase compared to the initially forecasted 15%, with the price increase being driven by the rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a global shortage of enterprise SSDs based on NAND flash memory, driven by high demand from new data centers and the rapid expansion of AI-related storage servers.

Insiders report that server companies seeking to increase their storage capacity have been rushing to order SSDs lately, even causing shortages of some products.

Samsung significantly influences pricing decisions, as it supplies about 50% of the enterprise SSD market. According to TrendForce’s estimates, others will follow Samsung’s lead, and a 20-25% price jump will be reflected in the entire market.

“With large-capacity SSD orders experiencing low order fill rates, suppliers continue to influence price trends, likely forcing buyers to accept higher prices,” says Brian Ao from TrendForce. “As some customers try to build up their inventories ahead of the peak season in the second quarter of 2024, contract prices for enterprise-class SSDs are forecast to jump 20-25%, the largest increase of any product line.”

This growth applies exclusively to enterprise SSDs, while eMMC and consumer SSDs will rise in price by only 10-15% in Q2.