Samsung is being impacted by yet another supply shortage in the tech industry, this time related to its own SSD controllers. Samsung's Texas factories, which are responsible for producing SSD controllers, have been idle since February due to power outages caused by severe weather conditions. The company still hasn't resumed production at the facilities, and according to a report from DigiTimes, this will halt the production of Samsung's PCIe SSD controllers until May.
This situation could be very detrimental to the company over the course of a few months. Samsung's factories in Texas are responsible for producing most of Samsung's SSD controllers worldwide. Sources tell DigiTimes that up to 75% of its PCIe SSD controller production will be affected this month, impacting the company's products for high-end desktop PCs.
According to the report, the situation doesn't end there—Samsung's supply issues could spill out into the server and mainstream PC markets by April, as well.
Even though Samsung's NAND flash is not built in Austin, every SSD needs a controller to function properly, so this shortage will directly affect Samsung's ability to produce SSDs.
To counter this issue, many OEMs responsible for building PCs have already made arrangements to switch to competing storage solutions for the time being. Expect the DIY market to get hit as well. So if you're eyeballing a Samsung SSD for a new build, like the Samsung 980 we reviewed earlier today, get your order in as soon as possible before prices skyrocket due to a supply/demand imbalance.
Fortunately, Samsung expects to restart its SSD controller production by April and resume shipping PCIe SSD controllers by May, so this shortage could only last a few months. However, as we've seen time and again, shortages can impact the market long after production equalizes, as empty supply chains can take quite a bit of time to resume normal operations.
