Taiwanese memory manufacturer Transcend has officially warned its partners that new shipments of NAND Flash from Samsung and SanDisk have been delayed again, and that the company’s allocated chip volume for the fourth quarter has been sharply reduced. An internal document obtained by TechPowerUp and PC Gamer stated that prices for SSDs, memory cards, and DRAM modules would continue to rise at very rapid and abnormal rates over the next three to five months.
The Same Cause as Before: AI Is Consuming the Chips
According to the letter from Transcend, the market was then experiencing a severe shortage of both DRAM (DDR5) and NAND Flash (for SSDs, SD, and MicroSD). The company noted that the situation had worsened dramatically in the fourth quarter because major data centers and hyperscalers were expanding their infrastructure, which significantly increased demand. It said that all major chip manufacturers were prioritizing these clients, leading to price increases and extremely limited availability, and that within a single week Transcend had been informed of a 50–100 percent cost increase.
Samsung and SK Hynix had earlier indicated that they were deliberately restricting consumer chip production to minimize the risk of oversupply, a position that in practice meant giving priority to HBM and server-grade memory for AI.
Consequences Already Visible Across the Market
Raspberry Pi announced that several models would become 21 percent more expensive because of RAM shortages.• Framework explained that it had removed standalone memory modules from sale to prevent scalping and preserve stock for its modular laptops.• Retail data showed that motherboard sales had fallen by 40–50 percent year over year, as gamers and enthusiasts postponed upgrades while waiting for prices to stabilize.• Retailers reported that a 1 TB TLC SSD already cost more than 12,000–14,000 RUB, and 2 TB models more than 22,000 RUB.TrendForce and DigiTimes analysts indicated that the current “bull” memory cycle would likely continue at least until mid-2026, and possibly, in a pessimistic scenario, until 2028.
In Brief
Transcend had not received any new NAND shipments since October, as deliveries from Samsung and SanDisk were delayed again and its Q4 allocation was cut. SSD and DRAM prices were expected to rise another 50–100 percent at least until spring 2026. Analysts attributed the situation to AI demand, noting that major data centers were purchasing nearly all available production. The years 2025–2026 thus appeared to be the worst time to build or upgrade a PC, but the best time for those who had already bought their hardware earlier.
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