Enlarge / Western Digital’s latest WD Black SN770 SSD. (credit score: Western Digital)
Strong-state storage gadgets have to this point been spared from the shortage and excessive costs that the chip scarcity has wrought upon graphics playing cards, automobiles, Raspberry Pi boards, and innumerable different merchandise. However which will change quickly, due partly to a “contamination” at two Japanese factories utilized by Western Digital and Kioxia to make flash reminiscence.
Based on a brief Western Digital press launch, the contamination subject has affected “at the very least” 6.5 exabytes of flash reminiscence, which works out to simply underneath 7 million terabytes or 7 billion gigabytes—that is numerous NAND that may all of a sudden be unavailable for SSDs, telephones, reminiscence playing cards, and USB drives. An analyst chatting with Bloomberg prompt that the ultimate whole of affected reminiscence might be as a lot as 16 exabytes.
The contamination subject might be compounded by different components, like a latest COVID-19-related shutdown at one in every of Samsung’s Chinese language NAND factories. Actual or perceived shortage of SSDs or different parts may additionally lure in scalpers searching for to make a fast buck by snapping up obtainable inventory and promoting it on eBay or elsewhere at inflated costs.
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