Hi there, I hope you are doing well. We’re already approaching mid-February, past all the major holidays, waiting until May for another officially sanctioned day off from work. Bummer, right? With 2021 well underway, we are beginning to see some supply-side trends which will drive pricing in the first half of this year.
In addition to USB Drives, Flash Cards and Solid State Hard Drives, NAND flash chips go in many of the devices we all use every day, from Smart Phones, to Televisions, to the new generation of intelligent automobiles. Sales in many of these product categories have been growing steadily, and with this supplies of NAND chips have tightened up. Last year, especially in the second half, chips were in over-supply, leading to price tumbles in most products. This year chips won’t be scarce but there won’t be excess either, so price cuts are not likely.
Another component which goes in nearly every flash device is called the Controller IC. This of this as the CPU for the flash chip. Controller foundries have not been able to keep up with the growing demand for flash technology and as a result many controller ICs are now in shortage. This has been pushing pricing up on SSDs, and we started seeing price increases of 5%-15% on lower capacity flash cards in January. USB drives have not been impacted yet, but as inventories turn over the new production is likely to be quoted at higher prices.
One thing to keep in mind regarding chip shortages: the new fabs and foundries required to produce more chips cost billions and take months to go online, so shortage-driven price hikes usually sustain over long periods if demand continues to outstrip supply.
Enough talk about prices going up. Nobody likes that. How about some discount pricing instead? That’s right, we like to go against the trend sometimes.
Feast your eyes on these great brand-name deals. Clicking on the image or a link below will take you to our website where you can learn more about each item and take advantage of discount pricing.
Kingston
Lexar
SanDisk
We also have some great offers this week on open-box products. These are flash drives which normally come in a retail package. If they get removed from the package we can’t sell them as new, but they are still in perfect condition and we offer the same warranty.
Kingston
Samsung
SanDisk
These prices are good until February 28th or until we sell out. I hope you found this information useful and even saw something interesting here. Do you have any questions about these products? Is your own personal favorite missing from the list? Contact me and I’ll take care of you. I’m here, waiting to be at your service. Until then, take care.
Best regards,
