闪迪：涨价，且必须全款！

Core Viewpoint - The storage market is entering a severe shortage phase driven by the explosive demand for AI servers and manufacturers' capacity shifts, leading to unprecedented contract terms and price increases [1][4]. Group 1: Market Dynamics - SanDisk plans to raise enterprise-grade NAND prices by over 100% month-on-month in March, breaking industry norms by requiring 100% cash prepayment from customers to secure long-term supply contracts [1][2]. - The demand for storage devices is rigid due to AI infrastructure development, prompting some cloud service providers to consider accepting stringent contract terms to avoid supply disruptions [2][6]. - The storage chip market is experiencing a supply-side transformation driven by AI, resulting in a strong seller's market where buyers must accept unprecedented terms [4][6]. Group 2: Price Trends - The price of enterprise-grade NAND is expected to rise sharply, with reports indicating a potential increase of over 100% in March for SSDs [2][7]. - The demand for enterprise storage is significantly influenced by NVIDIA's inference context memory storage platform, which requires substantial amounts of 3D NAND [7]. - There is uncertainty regarding how the doubling of enterprise-grade product prices will affect consumer-grade markets, but typically, consumer prices follow enterprise price trends due to shared production facilities [7]. Group 3: Supply Chain Challenges - Major storage manufacturers (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron) have shifted their capacity allocation towards higher-margin HBM for AI applications, significantly reducing the production capacity for standard DDR4/DDR5 and NAND [8]. - This structural shortage has led to chaos in the supply chain, with tech giants like Google and Meta restructuring their procurement teams to secure supplies [9]. - Companies are stockpiling inventory to avoid price hikes and shortages, with some PC brands like Lenovo pre-ordering for 2026 [9].