[Analysis: Another round of price increases is brewing in the storage industry, mainly concentrated in DRAM contracts and enterprise-grade SSDs] Odaily Planet Daily reports that several storage industry insiders recently revealed that some leading companies have verbally informed distributors of their intention to raise prices for enterprise-grade NAND flash memory. While official price increase notices have not yet been issued, prices at the distribution level have already begun to move. Several distributors confirmed these price increase signals. One Hynix distributor stated, "Prices are rising every day." He observed that the price of used NAND flash memory has been consistently increasing, driving up overall prices; the price adjustment path involves provincial distributors adjusting prices weekly, which are then passed down to lower-level distributors, "and we adjust accordingly." A Samsung distributor stated that this round of price increases is not a general increase across all product categories: the price increases are mainly concentrated in DRAM contracts and enterprise-grade SSD manufacturers/distributors, not a comprehensive increase in consumer-grade NAND. "The bulk of the demand still comes from computing power centers; the actual demand from grassroots users is relatively low." Because the price increases were initially concentrated in the DRAM contract market and enterprise-grade SSD segments, this round of price hikes, when passed from manufacturers to distributors, didn't first reach end consumers, but rather the manufacturers and module suppliers sandwiched in between. These manufacturers are the first to bear the brunt of the price increases from manufacturers, and their different positions in the industry chain mean their feelings and pressures are significantly different. (Blue Whale News)