The enterprise SSD market experienced a turbulent first quarter in 2025, driven by a convergence of negative trends.
According to TrendForce, production challenges for next-generation AI systems and inventory overhang in North America prompted clients to scale back orders significantly. This caused the average selling price (ASP) of enterprise SSDs to drop by nearly 20 percent, resulting in quarter-on-quarter revenue declines for the top five vendors.
Despite the weak start, the outlook for Q2 is more optimistic. The ramp-up in shipments of NVIDIA’s new chips is boosting demand for AI infrastructure across North America, while Chinese cloud service providers (CSPs) are steadily increasing data center storage capacity. These developments are expected to support a rebound in the enterprise SSD market, with revenues likely returning to growth.
Strategically, vendors are focusing on advanced interface technologies and high-capacity storage to position themselves for the anticipated recovery:
Samsung, despite a 34.9 percent revenue drop to $1.89 billion in Q1, continued to grow shipments of PCIe 5.0 SSDs. This suggests a clear push toward strengthening its lead in advanced interfaces.
SK Group (SK hynix and Solidigm), which saw revenue fall over 50 percent to $993 million, is accelerating the development of PCIe 5.0 SSDs based on TLC and QLC. These efforts form part of a broader technology transformation to align with evolving AI workload requirements.
Micron, with Q1 revenue of $852 million, managed a comparatively smaller decline of 27.3 percent by capitalizing on leftover demand from 2024 and a gradual expansion of its PCIe 5.0 portfolio.
Kioxia experienced a 21.8 percent revenue drop to $566 million due to weak seasonal demand and reduced server OEM orders, highlighting the need for improved customer alignment strategies.
SanDisk, although smaller in scale, grew product shipments and recorded $232 million in revenue. Its strategic shift to ultra-high-capacity storage — launching SSDs with up to 1 PB — positions it as a forward-looking player targeting AI and cloud-centric markets.
Overall, the market is undergoing a transitional phase, with vendors doubling down on innovation in interface speeds and capacity, while aligning production with the infrastructure buildouts driven by AI and cloud computing demand.
InfotechLead.com News Desk
