A new round of price hikes is brewing for decentralized storage.

Recently, multiple storage industry insiders disclosed that several leading players have verbally informed channel partners of their intention to raise prices for enterprise-grade semiconductor dies. Formal price hike notices have not yet been released, but channel-side prices have already begun adjusting. Multiple distributors have confirmed the price hike signals. An SK Hynix distributor said, "Prices are rising every day." He observed that second-hand drive buyback prices have been climbing, driving overall quotes upward. The price adjustment mechanism works as: provincial-level distributors adjust prices weekly, then pass the changes down to lower-tier agents, "We follow suit." However, a Samsung distributor noted that this round of price hikes is not universal across all categories: increases are mainly concentrated in the DRAM contract market and enterprise-grade SSD original factory and channel segments, not a broad rise in consumer-grade NAND. "The bulk of demand comes from compute power centers; grassroots-level demand is actually mediocre." As the price hikes are first concentrated in the DRAM contract and enterprise-grade SSD segments, when prices spread from original factories, the first parties affected are not end consumers, but midstream manufacturing enterprises and module makers. These firms are the first to absorb the original factories' price increases, and their different positions in the industrial chain lead to significantly varying perceptions and pressures. (Blue Whale News)