Global SSD shipments reached 127 million units in 2021
Despite being affected by the extended lead time of the main control chip and PMIC components to 32 weeks, however, according to the latest statistics from TrendForce, SSD shipments through global distribution channels reached 127 million units in 2021, an increase of 11% year-on-year.
Among the SSDs shipped, 42% of the 3D NAND chips came from Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, Kioxia, and Western Digital, and the remaining 58% included SSD manufacturers that only purchased components for assembly. In the retail field, the influence of brands is still very huge, which is one of the reasons why Kingston, ADATA, Kimtigo, Lexar, Netac and Transcend have always been in the top ten. These SSD vendors have been working in retail and custom PCs for quite some time.
Although Kingston still ranks first, its market share has declined to 26% in 2021; ADATA and Kimtigo, which ranked second and third, both increased their market shares; Lexar and Netac have similar shipments, ranking fourth and fifth respectively; from fifth to tenth are Transcend, Powev, Colorful, Gigabyte, and Teclast. Among them, the products of Powev and Colorful are mainly for the Chinese market, and Teclast and Gigabyte are both new brands entering the list this year.
There are a lot of SSD brands on the market today, and the competition is brutal because production is relatively easy and the market size is growing. Obviously, manufacturers who can manufacture 3D NAND chips will have an advantage. After all, they know their own chips better and know how to make better use of them and control costs. Although there is not necessarily an advantage in price, there are still some brands that have successfully launched their own high-performance SSDs, which are full of competitiveness in the market segment, such as CORSAIR and TEAMGROUP. While it’s hard for this type of brand to crack the top 10 list, it can serve its own loyal customer base, meeting their needs with performance and quality.
