Silicon Motion’s senior vice president Nelson Duann says the direct-to-consumer (“retail”) SSD market is nearly gone, citing NAND supply constraints over the past year. According to reporting that draws from Duann’s comments, SSD availability and supply are increasingly directed toward PC original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), leaving fewer drives for the traditional retail channel. Multiple outlets describe the situation as a supply-chain shift rather than a sudden drop in overall storage demand.
The outlets also report that Silicon Motion expects the overall conditions to worsen. One source states that the outlook is expected to deteriorate further in 2027, as NAND supply tightens or remains constrained. In parallel, coverage notes that Silicon Motion is preparing consumer-focused technology for future platforms, including a PCIe 6.0 SSD controller.
Across sources, the core point is that consumers face reduced retail SSD market presence while OEMs secure the available NAND-based components, with downstream effects likely to persist into 2027.
