Core Insights - The focus of AI infrastructure development in the next two years will shift towards supporting efficient inference services, leading to a demand for Nearline SSDs designed specifically for inference AI due to a severe shortage of traditional large-capacity HDDs [2][3] - Major NAND Flash suppliers are accelerating the validation and introduction of Nearline QLC NAND Flash products, which can store more data at a lower cost, addressing the growing demand for large capacity [2][3] - The competition among NAND Flash suppliers is driving the diversification of NAND Flash applications, moving from simple storage to deeper integration with AI computing [4] Group 1 - The demand for Nearline SSDs is expected to continue until 2027, with a tight supply of Enterprise SSDs anticipated in 2026 due to the expansion of inference AI applications [2] - Suppliers are actively developing new Nearline SSD products that not only exceed mainstream HDD capacities but also optimize costs and significantly reduce power consumption [3] - NAND Flash suppliers are also launching High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) products to capture market share in AI training applications, indicating a dual technology route in the industry [4] Group 2 - The competition in NAND Flash technology is characterized by two main camps: one led by SanDisk, focusing on a hybrid design of HBM and HBF, and the other represented by Samsung and Kioxia, which aims to provide more cost-effective solutions with SCM and XL-Flash technologies [4] - This technological competition is expected to enhance the integration of NAND Flash in AI operations, indicating a trend towards more diverse applications in the future [4]