December 15, 2025 Samsung is preparing to halt production of SATA solid-state drives, becoming the second major memory manufacturer in recent months to pull back from PC-focused products. Industry watchers say the impact could be more disruptive than Micron’s recent decision to scale back its Crucial consumer memory brand.
The concern is supply, not technology. Hardware analyst and host of the Moore’s Law Is Dead channel, who is only identified by his first name, Tom, says multiple distribution and retail sources have confirmed Samsung plans to exit SATA SSD production after fulfilling existing contracts. The report follows separate disclosures that Samsung has already raised DDR5 memory prices by as much as 60 per cent, adding to concerns about broader memory and storage cost pressures.
While SATA SSDs are no longer the fastest option on the market, they remain widely used, particularly for budget systems, laptop upgrades and corporate refresh cycles. The YouTube host notes that roughly 20 per cent of top-selling SSDs on major online retailers such as Amazon are still SATA-based, with Samsung products representing a significant share. Removing that volume from the market would reduce overall SSD availability, which can place upward pressure on pricing across both SATA and entry-level NVMe drives.
That reduction matters because it affects overall supply rather than branding alone. The YouTube host argues that fewer SATA drives in the channel could put short-term upward pressure on pricing across both SATA and entry-level NVMe products as buyers compete for alternatives. He also notes that uncertainty around availability can prompt accelerated purchasing by system builders and organizations that rely on SATA for existing infrastructure.
The reported plan comes after Micron announced earlier this month that it would scale down its Crucial-branded consumer memory business to prioritize higher-margin sales into AI data centres. In Micron’s case, overall supply remained largely intact because its DRAM continues to reach consumers through third-party manufacturers such as G.Skill and ADATA.
Samsung’s reported move is different. According to the YouTube host, the company is not simply rebranding or redirecting output, but ending production of an entire class of finished consumer SSDs. That represents a real reduction in supply rather than a shift in distribution, increasing the risk of shortages and price increases. This means fewer drives will reach the market.
Samsung has not publicly confirmed its plans. However, if the exit proceeds as described, it would mark another shift as major memory manufacturers increasingly favour data-centre and AI workloads over traditional consumer storage.
