At Glyph, we’ve always focused our business on creative professionals and their workflow needs — people who rely on their storage every day to do real work. That commitment hasn’t changed, even as the global memory and storage markets are experiencing a period of sustained pressure.
We’re focused on continuing to push performance and technology forward while doing everything we can to keep pricing as accessible and stable as possible. Part of that responsibility is being transparent about what’s happening behind the scenes and how global market dynamics are affecting the components that go into the products you depend on.
Unprecedented global market dynamics are driving industry-wide cost increases across both memory and storage components, and we expect these pressures to continue throughout 2026. This is being driven by a combination of rising demand for high-performance memory in AI and data center infrastructure, constrained supply, and sustained increases in DRAM and NAND flash pricing.
What’s Driving These Increases
The foundation of modern storage — DRAM, NAND flash, and traditional hard drives — is under pressure from multiple directions at once.
Industry trackers forecast DRAM contract prices rising by as much as 55–60% quarter-over-quarter in early 2026, with server DRAM demand particularly strong as cloud and AI operators secure capacity ahead of other market segments. As TrendForce notes, server and AI buyers are increasingly locking in supply early, leaving less capacity available for client and professional markets.
At the same time, analysts warn that AI data centers could consume a majority of available memory supply in 2026, fundamentally shifting how capacity is allocated across the industry. Windows Central describes this trend as AI infrastructure “absorbing memory at a scale not seen in previous cycles,” tightening availability and keeping prices elevated for longer than typical boom-and-bust patterns.
NAND flash pricing is showing similar behavior. Some market observers now describe current NAND trends as “structural rather than cyclical,” pointing out that suppliers are intentionally limiting bit growth and prioritizing higher-margin segments rather than chasing volume. In practical terms, this reduces the likelihood of prices falling back to historic lows even if demand softens elsewhere.
These forces aren’t limited to SSD components alone. Traditional spinning hard drives — still widely used for bulk storage and backup — have also seen significant increases. According to Tom’s Hardware, average HDD prices have risen roughly 46% since late 2025, driven by supply constraints, logistics pressures, and renewed demand from large-scale data deployments.
Together, these components — DRAM, NAND flash, and HDDs — form the backbone of professional external storage systems. Like others across the industry, we’re feeling the impact.
What This Means for Glyph and Our Customers
Our priority remains unchanged: to keep Glyph pricing as stable as possible while maintaining the performance, reliability, and consistency professionals expect from our products.
We’re actively working with our supply partners to manage inventory, optimize sourcing, and absorb cost increases wherever possible rather than passing the full burden on to our customers. In many cases, we are making long-term purchasing and planning decisions that prioritize stability over short-term gains and fluctuations in price.
At the same time, we continue to invest in engineering, validation, and long-term product support — because reliability and sustained performance matter even more when replacement costs are rising across the industry.
A Note on Value and Long-Term Investment
One reality of the current market is that even so-called “budget” storage is no longer inexpensive. As component costs rise across the board, the gap between lower-quality options and professional-grade storage continues to narrow — often without a corresponding increase in reliability or performance.
In an environment where storage is both more expensive and harder to replace, treating it as disposable carries more risk than ever. Analysts across the consumer and PC markets have echoed this concern, noting that rising memory and component costs are already pushing prices higher across devices without necessarily improving durability or longevity.
For professionals, storage isn’t just capacity — it’s infrastructure. Choosing tools that are designed for sustained performance and long-term reliability becomes even more important when every part of the supply chain is under pressure.
Looking Ahead
This isn’t a short-term fluctuation. Analysts broadly expect these market conditions to persist through at least 2026 as AI, cloud infrastructure, and large-scale data deployments continue to reshape how memory and storage capacity is produced, allocated, and priced.
We believe transparency matters, especially in times like this. As conditions evolve, we’ll continue to share updates and provide clear context around pricing and availability — and we’ll remain focused on supporting our dealers, partners, and customers through it.
Thank you for your continued trust in Glyph.
