I saw this recently and wanted to share where Western Digital is supposedly stepping away from making SSDs. According to Wccftech, the company is stopping its production of SSDs to shift focus on the more profitable HDD business. Who new? Magnetic media is still more profitable?
If you are using the Black series NVMe drives, this is a major change from what we have purchased in the past for gaming builds or home lab servers. Western Digital has been a major player in the SSD market. They compete very well with other brands like Samsung, Crucial, and Kingston. Even though they haven't been the dominating vendor in this space, their SSDs, and in particular the WD Black NVMe drive has a solid reputation with gamers and home labbers.
Why is this happening? According to the report, NAND prices have been unstable, and competition in the consumer SSD market is fierce. With this, WD appears to be prioritizing its HDD business which still has strong enterprise and data center demand. Also, this probably weighs into the fact that WD has been in the middle of restructuring efforts. They had an attempted merger with Kioxia that ultimately fell through.
What Happens Next?
- No New WD SSDs – If this report holds true, there won't be any new WD SSDs in the future. Existing models might remain available while stock lasts so we might keep an eye out for steep discounts on these drives coming up shortly as online vendors look to get rid of stock
- Support & warranty – WD will most likely continue to honor warranties on existing SSDs, but it is uncertain about the long term support they will give on these
- More HDD Focus – Western Digital is doubling down on traditional hard drives, especially for the enterprise space
- NAND shake-up – This could impact the SSD industry as a whole, possibly leading to price fluctuations or shifts in market share among competitors.
While this is a bit of a bummer for home labbers and gamers and other enthusiasts, there are plenty of alternatives in the NVMe space, such as Samsung, Crucial, SK Hynix, and others.
What do you all think about this move? Are you using Western Digital Black? These are currently 25% off:
Read the write up on wfcctech here: Western Digital Has Reportedly Bid Farewell To The SSD Market; SanDisk Will Now Be Responsible For Existing & Future Products.