SSD Prices 2026: Micron’s NAND Prices Rose Nearly 5x in a Year, and the Storage Price Index Posted Its Biggest Jump on Record

SSD prices are rising because the NAND flash inside them costs several times what it did a year ago. Chaining Micron’s quarterly disclosures, its average NAND selling price rose about 4.9x in the four quarters to September 3, 2026, and Sandisk’s price per gigabyte was up 248% year over year by April. The BLS storage device price index rose 87%.

The NAND cycle, in the makers’ own numbers

Memory makers describe each quarter in two numbers: how many bits (or exabytes) they shipped and what they got per bit, each compared with a year earlier. Plotting one against the other turns the last four years into a loop. We took these figures from Micron’s 10-Qs and from the Flash segment of Western Digital, which became Sandisk in February 2025.

Each dot is one fiscal quarter compared with the same quarter a year earlier; later quarters are darker. Micron states ranges, so its dots use the midpoint of each range. Price axis is logarithmic so a halving and a doubling are the same distance from zero. Hover a dot for the quarter.

The loop starts in the glut. In the quarter ended March 2023, Micron’s NAND prices were down in the “high-40s percent range” from a year earlier. A year later the makers were shipping far more bits at lower prices: Western Digital’s Flash exabytes rose 21% in the quarter ended December 2023 while price per gigabyte fell 17%. Through 2024 prices recovered, then slid again in early 2025, when Sandisk cited “pricing pressure caused by market oversupply.” Then the loop broke upward. In the quarter ended April 3, 2026, Sandisk shipped the same exabytes as a year earlier and got 248% more per gigabyte. For the quarter ended May 2026, Micron reported “a mid-310% increase in average selling prices” for NAND on a year earlier and “a low-double-digit increase in bit shipments.”

How much have SSD prices gone up?

Micron also reports the change from the previous quarter. Chaining those sequential changes, its NAND price fell about 61% from September 2021 to a low in the quarter ended Aug 2023, then rose about 8x (range 7x to 9x). The steepest quarters were the ones ended February 2026 (“Prices increased in the high-70s percentage range”) and May 2026 (“Prices increased in the mid-80s percentage range”). In the quarter ended September 3, 2026, “Prices increased approximately 30%” more. Micron’s 10-K puts the full fiscal 2026 increase at “an approximate 200% increase in average selling prices.” Its NAND revenue was $31.8 billion in fiscal 2026, up from $8.5 billion, and $14.1 billion in the September quarter alone, against $2.3 billion a year earlier.

Which kinds of flash rose most

Sandisk breaks its price per gigabyte out by end market. Retail buyers got off lightest. In fiscal 2026 (to July 3, 2026), revenue per gigabyte rose by “low-fifties percent” in Consumer, which includes Sandisk’s retail products, against almost 150% in Datacenter and almost 180% in Edge, which serves OEM and channel customers in PCs, phones, and other devices.

Sandisk Forms 10-Q (quarters) and 10-K (fiscal year ended July 3, 2026). The 10-K gives the fiscal year changes in words, not exact percentages.

The storage price index just broke its 30-year range

The BLS producer price index for computer storage device manufacturing measures selling prices received by U.S. establishments that manufacture computer storage devices. In the 12 months to Sep 2026 it rose 87.3%. Before 2026, its biggest 12-month gain in comparisons back to Dec 1993 was 9.2%. The index rose 29.2% in one month, from May to June 2026, and is up 79.9% since December 2025.

12-month percent change, BLS series PCU334112334112 (not seasonally adjusted). Recent months are preliminary.

The BLS import price index for computer accessories, peripherals, and parts rose 49.9%. Consumer prices for computers and peripherals rose 9.7%. As with memory chips (see our analysis of RAM prices), the general semiconductor PPI barely moved, because it tracks U.S. chip makers rather than imported flash.

From glut to shortage: the cycle in the companies’ words

• Fiscal 2023 (to June 30, 2023)Western Digital: “Flash revenue decreased 38% in 2023 compared to 2022, substantially all driven by a decline in the average selling prices per gigabyte across all our end markets.” WD Form 10-K
• Quarter ended Aug 31, 2023Micron’s NAND bit shipments rose “over 40% driven by timing of shipments including strategic purchases” while prices fell “in the mid-teens percentage range.” Micron prepared remarks
• Quarter ended Dec 29, 2023Western Digital attributed falling flash prices to “the supply-demand imbalance.” WD Form 10-Q
• Quarter ended Sep 27, 2024Western Digital Flash price per gigabyte up 39% on a year earlier “as the supply-demand balance improved.” WD Form 10-Q
• Quarter ended Mar 28, 2025Sandisk price per gigabyte down 11% “due to pricing pressure caused by market oversupply.” Its CEO: “We have taken actions to reduce supply to match demand and commenced price increases this quarter.” Sandisk 10-Q and May 7, 2025 earnings release
• June 2025Micron: “our efficient node conversions will result in 10% structurally lower NAND wafer capacity ending fiscal 2025 versus the end of fiscal 2024 levels.” Micron fiscal Q3 2025 prepared remarks
• October 2025SK hynix: “the company has already secured full customer demand for its entire DRAM and NAND production for next year.” SK hynix 3Q25 release
• Quarter ended Nov 27, 2025Micron NAND prices up “in the mid-teens percentage range, driven by tight NAND industry supply, pricing execution and favorable mix.” Micron prepared remarks
• Quarter ended Apr 3, 2026Sandisk price per gigabyte up 248% on a year earlier; “The exabytes sold remained flat.” Sandisk Form 10-Q
• September 2026Micron expects calendar 2027 and 2028 NAND industry bit shipments to grow “approximately in the mid-20s percentage range and the industry to remain supply constrained in both years.” Micron fiscal Q4 2026 prepared remarks

Sandisk’s revenue and margin through the turn

SSDs vs hard drives

Will SSD prices go down?

Not soon, if the makers are right. Micron said in September 2026 that it expects memory and storage supply-demand conditions “to be much tighter in fiscal 2027 and 2028 than they were in 2026,” and that its own NAND supply would grow less than the industry’s in calendar 2026. SK hynix said in October 2026 that long-term agreements cover more than 50% of its 2027 to 2028 production capacity, and Sandisk describes “a new business model built on multi-year customer engagements backed by firm financial commitments.” These are company expectations. In early 2023 the same companies were reporting NAND prices down by about half from a year before, and our quadrant shows how fast the cycle can turn.

What this means for MSPs

Price SSD-heavy projects at order, not at proposal, and shorten quote validity. Where you have a choice, standardize client builds on one or two drive capacities so you can buy in volume when allocation allows. For servers and NAS, size flash for the hot tier only and push backup and archive to disk or object storage: Seagate’s numbers show disk pricing roughly flat while flash multiplied. If a client is comparing on-premises storage refreshes with public cloud storage, re-run the comparison with 2026 hardware quotes, because flash pricing has changed the math. Demand from AI build-outs is the driver the makers cite; our data center statistics report covers that side.

Frequently asked questions

Why are SSD prices going up?

The NAND flash makers say supply is tight and demand from AI data centers is strong. Micron attributes its NAND price increases to “tight NAND industry conditions,” and Sandisk’s average price per gigabyte rose 248% in the quarter ended April 3, 2026 while its exabytes shipped stayed flat.

How much have SSD prices gone up in 2026?

At the producer level, a lot. Chaining Micron’s quarterly disclosures, its average NAND price rose about 4.9x (range 4.8x to 5.1x) in the four quarters to September 3, 2026. The BLS producer price index for U.S. computer storage device makers was up 87.3% in Sep 2026 from a year earlier.

What happened to SSD prices?

They went through a full cycle. NAND prices collapsed in 2022 and 2023 (Micron’s index fell about 61% to a low in the quarter ended Aug 2023), recovered in 2024, dipped again in early 2025, then surged from late 2025. Since that 2023 low, Micron’s NAND price has risen about 8x.

Will SSD prices go down?

The makers do not expect it soon. In September 2026 Micron said it expects the NAND industry to remain supply constrained in calendar 2027 and 2028. That is a company expectation, not a guarantee; NAND prices fell by roughly half within a year in 2022 to 2023.

Are hard drives still cheaper than SSDs per terabyte?

Hard drive pricing barely moved through this cycle. Seagate reported an HDD price per terabyte of $14 in fiscal 2025, down from $18 in fiscal 2021, and its fiscal 2026 revenue per exabyte shipped was +1.1% on the year, while NAND prices multiplied.

Methodology

References

1. Micron Technology, Form 10-K for fiscal 2026. Accessed October 2026.
2. Micron Technology, Forms 10-Q, fiscal 2022 to 2026 (SEC EDGAR). Accessed October 2026.
3. Micron Technology, quarterly prepared remarks, fiscal 2022 to 2026. Accessed October 2026.
4. Sandisk Corporation, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 3, 2026. Accessed October 2026.
5. Sandisk Corporation, Forms 10-Q, 10-K, and 8-K earnings releases (SEC EDGAR). Accessed October 2026.
6. Western Digital Corporation, Forms 10-Q and 10-K, fiscal 2022 to 2025 (SEC EDGAR). Accessed October 2026.
7. Seagate Technology Holdings, Forms 10-K, fiscal 2022 to 2026 (SEC EDGAR). Accessed October 2026.
8. SK hynix, “SK hynix Announces 3Q25 Financial Results,” October 29, 2025. Accessed October 2026.
9. SK hynix, “SK hynix Announces 3Q26 Financial Results,” October 28, 2026. Accessed October 2026.
10. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Indexes (PCU334112334112, PCU334413334413). Accessed October 2026.
11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Import/Export Price Indexes (EIUIR21301). Accessed October 2026.
12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CUUR0000SEEE01). Accessed October 2026.