As reported by DigiTimes, prices of crucial PC components have seen a sharp increase in recent months. This surge is attributed to the challenges hardware and semiconductor companies face in keeping up with the burgeoning demand from the AI sector. The latest developments reveal that AI-driven consumption has triggered a scarcity of enterprise-grade hard disk drives (HDDs), with lead times for delivery stretching beyond two years. At present, the HDD market is mainly controlled by Seagate and Western Digital. However, both firms have announced their decision not to ramp up HDD production capacity. Instead, they intend to address the growing need for large-capacity storage in AI applications by boosting the capacity of individual drives. This strategy has led to ongoing HDD shortages and an uptick in prices. Concurrently, solid-state drives (SSDs), especially those with ultra-high capacities, are also experiencing supply constraints. The demand for QLC-based SSDs is exceptionally robust, with production capacities for 2026 already fully reserved across multiple storage manufacturers. It is anticipated that QLC flash memory will overtake TLC as the most widely produced type of flash memory by 2027.