Adios cheap SSDs? WD, Seagate warn that PC storage prices are going up

If you’re in the market for a hard drive or SSD, act fast! Otherwise, you could be paying more than you’d like.

According to Taiwan analyst company TrendForce, storage makers Western Digital and now Seagate have sent letters to customers warning them that the companies will be raising prices on hard drives. WD’s letter said that it would be raising prices on SSDs, too.

“[D]emand recovery continues across several segments of our business and our reduced manufacturing capacity is limiting our ability to meet all of our customers’ demand and is resulting in longer lead times,” the letter says, signed by BS Teh, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Seagate. “As a result, we will be implementing price increases effective immediately on new orders and for demand that is over and above previously committed volumes.”

WD sent a similar letter earlier this month. In it, WD warned that is seeing “higher than expected demand across its entire flash and hard drive portfolio resulting in supply constraints.

“Given these circumstances, we will continue to implement price increases on flash and hard drive products this quarter, with some changes taking effect immediately,” WD senior vice president Scott Davis wrote, as noted by TrendForce and TomsHardware. “These updates will apply to our entire product portfolio.”

The letters both companies sent are addressed to their commercial partners, including PC makers who are responsible for ordering hard drives and SSDs for PC production. But with two of the world’s largest storage companies warning of price hikes, it’s hard to believe such increases wouldn’t hit retail products as well. In other words, if you’re interested in upgrading your SSD or buying an external hard drive or SSD, prices may be increasing in the near future.

The warning signs were there, however. In November, analysts warned that the price of SSDs was going up. That prediction appears to be coming true, and has sucked in hard-drive prices, too.

The good news? Hard drives prices are typically a fraction of the price of an SSD — this 1TB external Seagate hard drive is currently priced at $60 on Amazon, while a quality WD 1TB external SSD is $109. Could those prices climb? It certainly appears possible.

Further reading: The best SSDs we’ve tested