According to the latest survey from TrendForce, NAND Flash prices will continue to rise in the second quarter of 2024, as the inventory adjustment of server terminals is nearing the end and the demand for high-capacity storage products is driven by AI. However, due to high inventory levels of PCs and smartphone manufacturers, the shipment volume of NAND Flash in the second quarter decreased by 1% compared to the previous quarter, and the average selling price increased by 15%, reaching a total revenue of 16.796 billion US dollars, an increase of 14.2% from the previous quarter.

Starting from the second quarter, all NAND Flash suppliers have returned to profitability and plan to expand production capacity in the third quarter to meet the strong demand for AI and servers. However, due to poor performance in the PC and smartphone markets in the first half of this year, it is difficult to boost NAND Flash shipments. TrendForce estimates that the average selling price of NAND Flash for all products in the third quarter will increase by 5% to 10% compared to the previous quarter, and the shipment volume per bit will decrease by at least 5% due to the weak season. As for industry revenue, it will remain roughly the same as the previous quarter.

Samsung's revenue continued to grow in the third quarter, and SK Group plans to increase the proportion of enterprise SSD shipments.

Samsung

In the second quarter, Samsung actively responded to the demand for enterprise storage products from customers, but due to the sluggish consumer electronics market, the shipment volume of their NAND Flash decreased slightly on a quarterly basis. However, the average selling price increased by 20%, driving second quarter revenue to reach 6.2 billion US dollars, a quarterly increase of 14.8%. Samsung estimates that its shipment volume in the third quarter will exceed the overall market level, and the higher price increase of Enterprise SSD will drive its third quarter revenue growth.

SK Group

TrendForce Consulting stated that SK Group, including SK hynix and Solidigm, maintained the second place in revenue in the second quarter. Although PC and smartphone demand declined, AI demand significantly boosted Solidigm's shipments, resulting in a slight quarter-on-quarter decrease in bit shipments and a 16% increase in average selling price. This led to a 13.6% quarterly increase in NAND Flash revenue in the second quarter, reaching $3.716 billion. Due to the continuous demand for high-capacity Enterprise SSDs driven by AI, SK hynix plans to increase the proportion of Enterprise SSD shipments to 40% in the long term.

Kioxia

Kioxia maintained the third place in revenue among NAND Flash brand manufacturers in the second quarter. Despite adjustments in PC and smartphone customer inventories, slight improvement in server demand led to a 12% quarterly increase in bit shipments for Kioxia. The average selling price also rose by 20%, resulting in a second quarter revenue of $2.326 billion, a growth of 27.7% compared to the previous quarter.

Micron Technology

Micron's bit shipments also experienced a slight quarterly decrease in the second quarter, but the average selling price increased by 20%, resulting in NAND Flash revenue reaching $1.981 billion, a quarterly growth of 15.2%. Micron believes that the volume of high-capacity Enterprise SSD products drove its revenue growth in the second quarter and plans to adjust the focus of its products. It is expected that Enterprise SSD shipments will continue to increase in the third quarter.

Western Digital

In the second quarter, despite a slight increase in average selling price, Western Digital's bit shipments decreased slightly. However, its NAND Flash revenue still grew to $1.761 billion, a quarterly increase of 3.3%. In the future, Western Digital plans to launch two new products to seize opportunities in the AI market.