Press Releases
According to TrendForce’s latest report on the server industry, not only have emerging applications in recent years accelerated the pace of AI and HPC development, but the complexity of models built from machine learning applications and inferences that involve increasingly sophisticated calculations has also undergone a corresponding growth as well, resulting in more data to be processed. While users are confronted with an ever-growing volume of data along with constraints placed by existing hardware, they must make tradeoffs among performance, memory capacity, latency, and cost. HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and CXL (Compute Express Link) have thus emerged in response to the aforementioned conundrum. In terms of functionality, HBM is a new type of DRAM that addresses more diverse and complex computational needs via its high I/O speeds, whereas CXL is an interconnect standard that allows different processors, or xPUs, to more easily share the same memory resources.
HBM breaks through bandwidth limitations of traditional DRAM solutions through vertical stacking of DRAM dies
Memory suppliers developed HBM in order to be free from the previous bandwidth constraints posed by traditional memory solutions. Regarding memory architecture, HBM consists of a base logic die with DRAM dies vertically stacked on top of the logic die. The 3D-stacked DRAM dies are interconnected with TSV and microbumps, thereby enabling HBM’s high-bandwidth design. The mainstream HBM memory stacks involve four or eight DRAM die layers, which are referred to as “4-hi” or “8-hi”, respectively. Notably, the latest HBM product currently in mass production is HBM2e. This generation of HBM contains four or eight layers of 16Gb DRAM dies, resulting in a memory capacity of 8GB or 16GB per single HBM stack, respectively, with a bandwidth of 410-460GB/s. Samples of the next generation of HBM products, named HBM3, have already been submitted to relevant organizations for validation, and these products will likely enter mass production in 2022.
TrendForce’s investigations indicate that HBM comprises less than 1% of total DRAM bit demand for 2021 primarily because of two reasons. First, the vast majority of consumer applications have yet to adopt HBM due to cost considerations. Second, the server industry allocates less than 1% of its hardware to AI applications; more specifically, servers that are equipped with AI accelerators account for less than 1% of all servers currently in use, not to mention the fact that most AI accelerators still use GDDR5(x) and GDDR6 memories, as opposed to HBM, to support their data processing needs.
Although HBM currently remains in the developmental phase, as applications become increasingly reliant on AI usage (more precise AI needs to be supported by more complex models), computing hardware will then require the integration of HBM to operate these applications effectively. In particular, FPGA and ASIC represent the two hardware categories that are most closely related to AI development, with Intel’s Stratix and Agilex-M as well as Xilinx’s Versal HBM being examples of FPGA with onboard HBM. Regarding ASIC, on the other hand, most CSPs are gradually adopting their own self-designed ASICs, such Google’s TPU, Tencent’s Enflame DTU, and Baidu’s Kunlun – all of which are equipped with HBM – for AI deployments. In addition, Intel will also release a high-end version of its Sapphire Rapids server CPU equipped with HBM by the end of 2022. Taking these developments into account, TrendForce believes that an increasing number of HBM applications will emerge going forward due to HBM’s critical role in overcoming hardware-related bottlenecks in AI development.
A new memory standard born out of demand from high-speed computing, CXL will be more effective in integrating resources of whole system
Evolved from PCIe Gen5, CXL is a memory standard that provides high-speed and low-latency interconnections between the CPU and other accelerators such as the GPU and FPGA. It enables memory virtualization so that different devices can share the same memory pool, thereby raising the performance of a whole computer system while reducing its cost. Hence, CXL can effectively deal with the heavy workloads related to AI and HPC applications.
CXL is just one of several interconnection technologies that feature memory sharing. Other examples that are also in the market include NVLink from NVIDIA and Gen-Z from AMD and Xilinx. Their existence is an indication that the major ICT vendors are increasingly attentive to the integration of various resources within a computer system. TrendForce currently believes that CXL will come out on top in the competition mainly because it is introduced and promoted by Intel, which has an enormous advantage with respect to the market share for CPUs. With Intel’s support in the area of processors, CXL advocates and hardware providers that back the standard will be effective in organizing themselves into a supply chain for the related solutions. The major ICT companies that have in turn joined the CXL Consortium include AMD, ARM, NVIDIA, Google, Microsoft, Facebook (Meta), Alibaba, and Dell. All in all, CXL appears to be the most favored among memory protocols.
The consolidation of memory resources among the CPU and other devices can reduce communication latency and boost the computing performance needed for AI and HPC applications. For this reason, Intel will provide CXL support for its next-generation server CPU Sapphire Rapids. Likewise, memory suppliers have also incorporated CXL support into their respective product roadmaps. Samsung has announced that it will be launching CXL-supported DDR5 DRAM modules that will further expand server memory capacity so as to meet the enormous resource demand of AI computing. There is also a chance that CXL support will be extended to NAND Flash solutions in the future, thus benefiting the development of both types of memory products.
Synergy between HBM and CXL will contribute significantly to AI development; their visibility will increase across different applications starting in 2023
TrendForce believes that the market penetration rate of CXL will rise going forward as this interface standard is built into more and more CPUs. Also, the combination of HBM and CXL will be increasingly visible in the future hardware designs of AI servers. In the case of HBM, it will contribute to a further ramp-up of data processing speed by increasing the memory bandwidth of the CPU or the accelerator. As for CXL, it will enable high-speed interconnections among CPU and other devices. By working together, HBM and CXL will raise computing power and thereby expedite the development of AI applications.
The latest advances in memory pooling and sharing will help overcome the current hardware bottlenecks in the designs of different AI models and continue the trend of more sophisticated architectures. TrendForce anticipates that the adoption rate of CXL-supported Sapphire Rapids processors will reach a certain level, and memory suppliers will also have put their HBM3 products and their CXL-supported DRAM and SSD products into mass production. Hence, examples of HBM-CXL synergy in different applications will become increasingly visible from 2023 onward.
For more information on reports and market data from TrendForce’s Department of Semiconductor Research, please click here, or email Ms. Latte Chung from the Sales Department at lattechung@trendforce.com
Press Releases
The latest analysis of the NAND Flash market from TrendForce finds that shipments have been below expectations for consumer electronics such as smartphones, Chromebooks, and TVs during this second half of the year. At the same time, demand remains sluggish for retail storage products including memory cards and USB drives. Data centers and enterprise servers represent the only applications that show relatively strong demand. With the inventory level of the demand side steadily rising, the procurement momentum of NAND Flash buyers will become more constrained going forward. The gradual weakening of demand is also relieving the shortage of NAND Flash controller ICs. Taking account of these factors, TrendForce forecasts that quotes for NAND Flash products will begin to fall in 4Q21, and NAND Flash contract prices will register QoQ declines of 0-5% for that period.
For 4Q21, Contract Prices of Client SSDs Will Drop by 3-8% QoQ, Whereas Contract Prices of Enterprise SSDs Will Rise Slightly by 0-5% QoQ
Countries in North America and Europe are gradually lifting COVID-19 restrictions as their vaccination rates rise. Consequently, schools and businesses in those countries have also reopened and resumed normal operation. Due to this development, the demand for Chromebooks, which are mainly purchased by academic institutions, has started to slide rapidly. The demand for consumer notebook (laptop) computers has slowed down as well. Among different types of notebook computers, only commercial models continue to experience growing demand. On the side of device manufacturers, the shortages of other types of non-memory ICs are disrupting the operations of ODMs. In particular, the prolonged nationwide lockdown in Malaysia has aggravated the undersupply situation for PMICs. This problem not only impacts the production of PCs and notebook computers but also affects the product assembly capacity of some SSD suppliers.
Additionally, NAND Flash suppliers are rapidly raising production capacity for NAND Flash products that are 128 or higher in layer count. As a result, supply is gradually outpacing demand for SSDs. TrendForce believes that suppliers will become increasingly proactive in pricing in order to raise the consumption of their production output by customers and thus prevent excess inventory. Hence, contract prices of client SSDs are forecasted to make a downward turn in 4Q21 and register QoQ declines of 3-8%.
Regarding enterprise SSDs, customers in the data center segment have raised the volumes of their orders for two quarters straight, and their inventories have been climbing steadily as well. Therefore, the demand for enterprise SSDs will start to weaken in 4Q21. The procurement of enterprise SSDs by server OEMs will continue to be sustained by server shipments to medium and small enterprises in 4Q21. However, the total server shipments for the same period will be impacted by the ongoing IC shortage. Server shipments are forecasted to drop by nearly 9% QoQ for 4Q21, and the demand bits related to enterprise SSDs will also fall by 7% QoQ for the same period.
Turning to the supply side of the enterprise SSD market, lead time has been prolonged for the enterprise SSD controller ICs from Intel because Intel’s main base for packaging and testing this kind of chip is located in Malaysia, which is now a COVID-19 hotspot. The situation is not expected to improve in 4Q21, so bit shipments of enterprise SSDs from Intel will shrink from 3Q21. Since Intel’s market share for enterprise SSDs is fairly large, the effect of the recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Malaysia on contract prices of enterprise SSDs will be significant. TrendForce currently forecasts that contract prices of enterprise SSDs will rise by 0-5% QoQ for 4Q21. The hike will be mainly caused by the lack of components on the supply side rather than an increase in demand.
5-10% Reduction Projected for eMMC Prices amidst Significant Drop of End Demand
The demand for major consumer products, such as TVs and tablets, has started to weaken after the conclusion of the traditional peak season of stocking, as well as the gradual withdrawal of subsidization policy from the US. The continuous elevation of the vaccination rate in European and American countries, followed by a progressive mitigation of lockdown measures in various countries and successive resumption of school operations, have yielded an apparent impact to the demand for notebooks and tablets related to education purposes, while the aggravated stocking from the buyers during 1H21 in fear of shortages in NAND Flash controller IC has increased the inventory level and further suppressed eMMC orders. Despite stable capacity for low density 2D MLC NAND, as well as confined supply of NAND Flash controller due to the full load capacity of 28/40nm processes from foundries, the prices have been deprived of support owing to the sizable depletion in end demand, where a prominent decrement of 5-10% is expected for relevant products during 4Q21 after the substantial increase in 2Q21.
0-5% Reduction Projected for UFS Prices amidst Enhanced Supply and Diminished Demand
TrendForce has downward revised the projections to the annual production of smartphones under the fluctuating COVID-19 pandemic status in Southeast Asia. In addition, the stocking demand for new iPhones and flagships of various brands will gradually decelerate upon entering 4Q21, while the peak season of stocking is soon to be transitioned to the imminent off season. Purchase dynamics of UFS are expected to further subside. Regarding supply, mobile clients are currently using similar layers in products to that of PC OEMs after the spontaneous incorporation of 1xxL by different brands during 1Q21, and the provision of products with higher layers is expected to amplify under PC products’ expansion of market satisfaction and the unmitigated component gaps of ODMs. UFS quotations are estimated to deteriorate by 0-5% in 4Q21 under enhanced supply and diminished demand.
NAND Flash Wafer Prices to Sustain the Largest Quarterly Decrease of 10-15% amidst Subsided Demand for Major Applications
The demand performance for retail end products has been sluggish since the beginning of 2021 aside from the temporal nourishment from the related demand for a storage-based cryptocurrency (Chia) between April and May. Memory cards and USB flash drives have been sluggish in sales since 2Q21 due to the successive exacerbation of the pandemic status in India and Southeast Asia, and the sales of retail SSD from channels have been impeded owing to the shortages of graphics cards, which obstructs the bundling with assembled computers. The fluctuation of cryptocurrency prices, for which the plummeting had slightly improved the shortages of graphics cards at one time, has triggered another recovery in the demand for mining, and further inhibits the sales volume of SSD. It is worth noting that the diverted tendency between end products and upstream components has manifested considerable pressure to module houses.
Pressure from the sales of NAND Flash wafer inventory is expected to gradually magnify for suppliers under the worse-than-expected demand for products such as notebooks, smartphones, and TVs. Few suppliers have signaled their willingness in active provision during 4Q21, though the continuously enlarging void of PMIC has instead entangled the shipment of finished enterprise SSD, which intensifies the sales pressure of NAND Flash wafer. Furthermore, YMTC, WDC, and Micron have initiated an active supply of 128, 112, and 176L product samples to module houses for testing and incorporation. The incorporation of higher layers will further refine shipment cost that will obtain additional room in price reduction for suppliers. 3D NAND wafer is expected to sustain the largest depletion among all product categories at 10-15% during 4Q21.
For more information on reports and market data from TrendForce’s Department of Semiconductor Research, please click here, or email Ms. Latte Chung from the Sales Department at lattechung@trendforce.com
Press Releases
NAND Flash suppliers’ Clients in the data center segment were gradually stepping up enterprise SSD procurement after finishing inventory adjustments, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. Moreover, the adoption rate of 4/8TB products in the enterprise SSD market increased substantially on account of the releases and adoption of the new server processor platforms from Intel and AMD. Although the recent wave of COVID-19 outbreaks that struck Southeast Asia weakened smartphone sales in 2Q21, the quarterly total NAND Flash bit shipments rose by nearly 9% QoQ, as PC OEMs still had plenty of component orders in 2Q21 due to the fairly robust notebook demand during the period. On the other hand, the shortage of controller ICs became more severe during the period, and the winter storm that battered Texas this February affected the operation of Samsung’s foundry fab Line S2 in Austin. As demand for NAND Flash products rose, the overall ASP also rose by nearly 7% QoQ, and the quarterly total NAND Flash revenue rose by 10.8% QoQ to US$16.4 billion in 2Q21.
Moving into 3Q21, clients in the data center segment will gradually become the main growth driver as they expand procurement of high-density enterprise SSDs. Furthermore, notebook demand is expected to remain at a fairly high level in 3Q21, thereby sustaining NAND Flash demand bit growth and the ongoing rise in contract prices of NAND Flash products. Hence, TrendForce currently forecasts that the quarterly total NAND Flash revenue will not only again register a QoQ increase but also hit a record high for 3Q21.
Samsung
For 2Q21, Samsung’s bit shipments grew by around 8% QoQ thanks to the strong demand from PC OEMs and hyperscalers aggressively building up their enterprise SSD inventories. The energetic stock-up activities and the shortage of controller ICs also caused Samsung’s ASP to rise by about 5% QoQ. As a result, Samsung’s NAND Flash revenue went up by 12.5% QoQ to US$5.59 billion in 2Q21.
SK hynix
Smartphone storage solutions account for the largest portion of SK hynix’s sales mix. Nevertheless, SK hynix’s sales performance during 2Q21 still benefitted from hyperscalers’ rising demand and the brisk flow of orders related to notebooks. Hence, SK hynix grew its bit shipments by 3% QoQ. Its ASP also rose by about 8% QoQ because of the general tightening of NAND Flash supply and the shortage of controller ICs. All in all, SK hynix’s NAND Flash revenue went up by 10.8% QoQ to US$2.025 billion for 2Q21.
Kioxia
Kioxia benefitted from strong notebook demand and resurging procurement activities from its enterprise clients in 2Q21. In addition, Kioxia’s major clients in the smartphone segment once again kicked off their NAND Flash procurement during the quarter. As a result, Kioxia’s bit shipment grew by about 7% QoQ in 2Q21, while its ASP entered an upward trajectory for the first time in four quarters with a QoQ growth of more than 10%. However, in light of the trailing performance of its SSSTC subsidiary (formerly Liteon’s SSD business) as well as the impact of unfavorable exchange rates, Kioxia’s revenue for 2Q21, when converted into USD, reached a mere US$3.011 billion, an 8.5% QoQ increase.
Western Digital (WDC)
Western Digital put up a remarkable revenue performance for 2Q21 thanks to robust demand from the notebook segment, an upswing in enterprise SSD demand, and the shipment of its second-gen NVMe enterprise SSD, which resulted in a 39% QoQ increase in Western Digital’s enterprise SSD revenue. On the other hand, while products related to Chia cryptocurrency mining gained significant media spotlight at the end of April, they made limited contributions to Western Digital’s quarterly bit shipment, which underwent a mere 4% QoQ increase in 2Q21, though its ASP increased by 7% QoQ. All in all, Western Digital’s NAND Flash revenue reached US$2.419 billion, an 11.2% QoQ increase, in 2Q21.
Micron
Owing to strong demand from the data center and notebook segments, Micron grew its quarterly bit shipment by nearly 7% in 2Q21. In particular, Micron’s QLC client SSDs enjoyed a growing penetration rate in the PC segment. With the shortage in the SSD market leading to a 3% QoQ increase in Micron’s ASP for 2Q21, its NAND Flash revenue reached US$1.812 billion, a 9.8% QoQ increase.
Intel
Intel’s quarterly bit shipment for 2Q21 underwent a near 10% QoQ decline in spite of strong enterprise SSD demand from the data center segment. This decline can primarily be attributed to the shortage of such key components as controller ICs and PMICs. Compared to other major NAND Flash suppliers, Intel mainly procures some of these components from a single source, thereby exacerbating the impact of the component shortage on its operations, including the shipment of enterprise SSDs. Nevertheless, its ASP still grew by about 9% QoQ on the back of persistently strong demand from clients. Intel’s quarterly revenue from its NAND Flash business reached US$1.098 billion, a 0.8% QoQ decline, in 2Q21.
For more information on reports and market data from TrendForce’s Department of Semiconductor Research, please click here, or email Ms. Latte Chung from the Sales Department at lattechung@trendforce.com
Press Releases
While the server industry transitions to the latest generation of processors based on the x86 platform, the Intel Ice Lake and AMD Milan CPUs entered mass production earlier this year and were shipped to certain customers, such as North American CSPs and telecommunication companies, at a low volume in 1Q21, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations.
These processors are expected to begin seeing widespread adoption in the server market in 3Q21. TrendForce believes that Ice Lake represents a step-up in computing performance from the previous generation due to its higher scalability and support for more memory channels. On the other hand, the new normal that emerged in the post-pandemic era is expected to drive clients in the server sector to partially migrate to the Ice Lake platform, whose share in the server market is expected to surpass 30% in 4Q21.
Volume ramp of CPUs based on the Eagle Stream platform will likely take place in 2Q22, while AMD is expected to reach a 15% share in the server market next year
Regarding the mass production schedule of Intel CPUs based on the next-gen Eagle Stream platform, volume ramp is expected to occur in 2Q22. These processors, which feature embedded HBM, comprise a much more diverse product lineup compared to the previous generation. Although Intel’s 2Q22 target represents a slight delay from the market’s previous expectation of a 4Q21 ramp-up, Eagle Stream CPUs will enter the final product qualification stage at the end of 4Q21, after which Intel will begin provisioning certain leading customers with a small batch of these CPUs in 1Q22, according to TrendForce’s survey of server ODMs. As such, the mass production schedule of Sapphire Rapids will likely resemble the release of Ice Lake server processors earlier this year.
Genoa CPUs, AMD’s competitive equivalent of the Intel Eagle Stream, are expected to enter mass production on a similar schedule, since AMD’s wafer starts at the 5nm node have been relatively low-volume. AMD’s server processors manufactured at the 14nm node and below have the competitive advantage in terms of price-to-performance, core count, and interface support.
Furthermore, after progressing to the 7nm node, these processors have been seeing gradually increased adoption by various public cloud service providers, including Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Tencent, throughout 2021. AMD CPUs have currently surpassed a 10% penetration rate in these three CSPs’ servers. Going forward, AMD will begin inputting wafers at the 5nm node at the end of 2021 in order to further optimize its processors’ cost, power consumption, and performance. TrendForce therefore expects AMD CPUs to reach a 15% share in the global server market in 2022.
While the ARM architecture is starting to gain popularity, ARM chips are mostly built-to-order due to the relatively small scale of client demand
Processors based on the ARM architecture began seeing increased market penetration this year, with AWS’ self-designed Graviton chips enjoying the greatest market share. In addition, Ampere and Marvell have also been releasing more agile and flexible ARM-based server processors, validation for which by CSPs is expected to kick off in 4Q21. The server market, however, is still dominated by x86 processors, which currently account for 97% of total server processor shipments.
In particular, AMD has transitioned most of its server offerings to processors manufactured at the 7nm and 7nm+ nodes by increasing wafer inputs at these nodes and replacing its old 14nm product lineups. This transition has paid off, as some of AMD’s clients have gradually become receptive to these new products. On the other hand, ARM- and RISC-based processors are currently built to order, mostly for the data center market. TrendForce therefore believes that ARM CPUs will not be competitive with x86 CPUs in the server market before 2023.
Support will extend to include PCIe G5 and DDR5 RDIMM, while CXL will improve memory performance
It should be noted that Intel as the dominant leader in the market for x86 server CPUs has decided to have Eagle Stream support CXL (Compute Express Link). This interface further optimizes the memory coherence between the CPU and the memory components to which the CPU is connected. The processor platform thus has the ultimate function of establishing a memory pool for all computing units within the server through memory virtualization, even though this function is not notably emphasized in the initial establishment of the product specifications, which originally sought to enable high-bandwidth and low-latency data transfer for the CPU.
The memory pool, in turn, enhances the interconnections (or the data transfer efficiency) among the CPU, memory, GPU, ASIC, FPGA, etc. The new CXL interface will be able to offer significant improvements in terms of dealing with heavier workload in the future and conducting heterogeneous computing. Moreover, CXL will be able to overcome the limits imposed on the current hardware architecture with respect to data transfer and thereby enable more effective integrated computing capability.
The build-out of data centers continues to grow because of the emergence of applications related to AI and Big Data. Furthermore, the demand for larger cloud storage capacity has massively expanded as a result of enterprises’ increasingly rapid digital transformation efforts in the post-pandemic world. At the same time, with the increase in CPU core count, how to raise computing performance via memory optimization has now become an important issue. Eagle Stream can resolve this bottleneck by extending support to PCIe G5 for the SSD interface technology.
Compared with its predecessor, PCIe G5 offers twice the data transfer rate. Therefore, hyperscalers are eager to adopt SSDs based on this standard. As for DRAM, both Eagle Stream and Genoa extend support to the next-generation DDR5 server DRAM, which delivers a faster data transfer rate, making these new server CPUs superior to Ice Lake in all respects. NAND Flash and DRAM suppliers have made plans to commence mass production of PCIe G5 SSDs and DDR5 RDIMMs at the end of 2Q22 in anticipation of demand generated by the release of the Eagle Stream and Genoa platforms for these next-gen products.
For more information on reports and market data from TrendForce’s Department of Semiconductor Research, please click here, or email Ms. Latte Chung from the Sales Department at lattechung@trendforce.com
(Cover image source: Intel Newsroom)
Press Releases
The ramp-up of the Intel Ice Lake and AMD Milan processors is expected to not only propel growths in server shipment for two consecutive quarters from 2Q21 to 3Q21, but also drive up the share of high-density products in North American hyperscalers’ enterprise SSD purchases, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. In China, procurement activities by domestic hyperscalers Alibaba and ByteDance are expected to increase on a quarterly basis as well. With the labor force gradually returning to physical offices, enterprises are now placing an increasing number of IT equipment orders, including servers, compared to 1H21. Hence, global enterprise SSD procurement capacity is expected to increase by 7% QoQ in 3Q21. Ongoing shortages in foundry capacities, however, have led to the supply of SSD components lagging behind demand. At the same time, enterprise SSD suppliers are aggressively raising the share of large-density products in their offerings in an attempt to optimize their product lines’ profitability. Taking account of these factors, TrendForce expects contract prices of enterprise SSDs to undergo a staggering 15% QoQ increase for 3Q21.
Looking ahead to 4Q21, TrendForce expects a decline in server shipment to bring about a corresponding downward correction in enterprise SSD procurement capacity. Meanwhile, clients will continue to validate higher-layer PCIe G4 products from Kixoia and Micron. On the other hand, as the shortage of SSD components becomes alleviated going forward, enterprise SSD suppliers’ production capacities will likely increase as well. As a result, enterprise SSD contract prices for 4Q21 will likely remain relatively unchanged from 3Q21 levels.
Suppliers are making a strong push to develop PCIe G5 and CXL products as these new interfaces become available for server applications next year
Intel and AMD are expected to kick off mass production of Eagle Stream and Genoa CPUs, respectively, in 1H22. In addition to being compatible with PCIe G5, these server processors will also support the CXL (Computer Express Link) interface. TrendForce’s investigations indicate that NAND Flash suppliers have been fast-tracking their production of PCIe G5 SSDs in response to the upcoming mass production of Eagle Stream. As such, these SSDs are likely to see market release between 2Q22 and 3Q22.
Micron, on the other hand, has also announced its development of CXL products. Because CXL enables optimized data transmission between CPU and other components, such as memory, GPU, ASIC, and FPGA, memory solutions with CXL interface are likely to experience rapid growth in the hyperscale market, which is constantly in pursuit of faster data transmission speeds. TrendForce believes that the release of increasingly fast data transmission interfaces will bring about a massive increase in the expenses and technological challenges associated with SSD controller IC development. Enterprise SSD suppliers will subsequently have to jostle for market share by leveraging their respective unique competitive advantages.
For more information on reports and market data from TrendForce’s Department of Semiconductor Research, please click here, or email Ms. Latte Chung from the Sales Department at lattechung@trendforce.com