Kioxia's managing director Shunsuke Nakato stated the company's manufacturing capacity is sold out for the remainder of 2026. This shortage, driven by massive AI data center investment, is pushing the market for both enterprise and consumer SSDs into a prolonged high-end and expensive phase for the foreseeable future.

Nakato explained that companies feel a "crisis" to keep investing in AI, creating a cycle that sustains high demand. While Kioxia is expanding production at its Yokkaichi and Kitakami factories, new semiconductor fabs take years to build. This means the current shortage won't resolve quickly, unlike shorter-term supply issues.

For consumers, this means SSD prices will remain elevated, especially for high-capacity 2TB and 4TB models. Upgrading a PC may require using secondary M.2 slots, which might use slower chipset lanes but are still viable for storage expansion. The industry's focus on AI infrastructure continues to dictate memory availability and cost.