SSD shoppers these days will have noticed that deals are not as plentiful as they used to be and prices are on the rise. According to a newly discovered letter to partners from Western Digital, price increases across the company's flash and hard drive portfolio will continue due to higher-than-expected demand and supply chain "challenges."

The letter was originally discovered by TechNews.tw and was apparently addressed only to Western Digital's partners (via Tom's Hardware). However, now that the letter has been made public, it seems to indicate plans for an industry-wide price increase, not just for Western Digital's flash drive and hard disk drive divisions.

Samsung, currently the industry's largest flash memory supplier, and several other companies have scaled back NAND production by up to 50% and have since recorded revenue growth thanks to consumer demand and higher drive prices. Not only that, but as major companies continue to expand their AI data centers at an alarming rate, commercial demand for storage devices has increased accordingly.

What we have here is good old-fashioned supply and demand economics. As long as production is low and demand is high, a lot of profit is destined to be generated.

SSD and HDD prices are currently on the rise, and Western Digital seems to be predicting that, at least in the short term, rising costs for end consumers will not subside any time soon.

While it was possible to purchase a high-capacity 4TB Gen 4 drive for under $200 last year, such deals and the like are becoming increasingly rare these days. It must also be said that prices are generally not as low at the beginning of the year as they are at the end, but the hunt is definitely getting harder, and this situation may continue for some time yet.

As to how long this current situation will continue, no one knows at present. Phison CEO K.S. Phua warns of the drop in demand that these price increases will ultimately bring, and if the current situation continues, suppliers could go bankrupt, especially if the global recession catches up with the industry.

However, things are likely to remain challenging for the foreseeable future when it comes to storage prices. Those who hoarded storage last year bargained well, but for those looking to buy in the near future, it appears that they will have to open their wallets wider for now.