SSD prices for volume purchasers are up about 20% from the start of the year.

Prices of solid-state drives used for data storage in personal computers and servers climbed for a 14th consecutive month in July, underpinned by higher costs for a core component.

SSD prices for volume purchasers are up about 20% from the start of the year.

Benchmark 128-gigabyte drives with multilevel-cell flash memory cost around $62 apiece last month, up 1% from June. Cheaper SSDs with triple-level-cell flash memory, employed widely in PCs, came to about $49 per 120GB unit. Prices have stayed flat from spring but are a tenth higher compared with the start of 2017.

While some server and PC makers are moving to TLC drives, demand for the benchmark MLC drives remains strong. The reliability of multilevel cells makes them hard to replace, especially for such industrial equipment as machine tools.

Meanwhile, tightness in the supply of NAND flash memory is pulling the cost of this key component of SSDs higher. Benchmark 64-gigabit TLC NAND flash memory rose 13% from a month earlier to around $3.50 each. On top of rising demand for use in smartphones, a South Korean memory maker reports increased demand from China's Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings for use in servers.

At PC parts shops in Tokyo's Akihabara district, SSDs fetch around 6,000 yen ($54) for 120GB TLC types, up about 30% from the latter half of last year. Prices for all makes are inching up, according to Dospara Parts Center, a neighborhood vendor.

But the pace of NAND price growth is slowing, making softer SSD prices down the line more likely. As production of so-called 3-D NAND increases, Toshiba expects memory prices to fall 3% in the July-September quarteBenchmark 128-gigabyte drives with multilevel-cell flash memory cost around $62 apiece last month, up 1% from June. Cheaper SSDs with triple-level-cell flash memory, employed widely in PCs, came to about $49 per 120GB unit. Prices have stayed flat from spring but are a tenth higher compared with the start of 2017.

While some server and PC makers are moving to TLC drives, demand for the benchmark MLC drives remains strong. The reliability of multilevel cells makes them hard to replace, especially for such industrial equipment as machine tools.

Meanwhile, tightness in the supply of NAND flash memory is pulling the cost of this key component of SSDs higher. Benchmark 64-gigabit TLC NAND flash memory rose 13% from a month earlier to around $3.50 each. On top of rising demand for use in smartphones, a South Korean memory maker reports increased demand from China's Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings for use in servers.

At PC parts shops in Tokyo's Akihabara district, SSDs fetch around 6,000 yen ($54) for 120GB TLC types, up about 30% from the latter half of last year. Prices for all makes are inching up, according to Dospara Parts Center, a neighborhood vendor.

But the pace of NAND price growth is slowing, making softer SSD prices down the line more likely. As production of so-called 3-D NAND increases, Toshiba expects memory prices to fall 3% in the July-September quarter.

By: DocMemory
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