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ProGrade Digital, makers of memory cards, card readers, and solid state drives, has announced that it will be forced to raise prices in May as the flash memory shortage has put too much pressure on its business.
In December, ProGrade announced that it was anticipating issues in 2026 as there was a high potential for an SSD shortage. At the time, ProGrade’s CMO and Co-Founder Mark Lewis explained the culprit: AI.
“There are only a few companies in the world that have flash memory fabs, and those suppliers are experiencing high demand for flash memory and DRAM from the companies that are building AI data centers. With all the frenzy over AI and the race to be the first, the biggest, the best, those companies are paying whatever they have to in order to build out their AI infrastructure,” Lewis wrote.
“As a result, the flash memory manufacturers are prioritizing allocation of their memory to those AI customers, and they are raising prices by 100–200% in some cases, and in certain situations, even more. These cost increases are significant and very real, and they impact the entire industry, including brands like ours.”
Back in late 2025, Lewis said ProGrade was anticipating that prices on SD, CFexpress Type A, CFexpress Type B, and SSD prices would increase.
“We are confident in our ability to supply our customers with product, but we do expect some ongoing volatility with supply and with pricing through 2026. Our goal is to keep you shooting and delivering for your clients, and we’ll communicate clearly as conditions change,” he said.
Unfortunately, conditions have changed. In an email to customers this morning, which was also published as a blog post on the company’s website, Lewis says that conditions have deteriorated to the degree that ProGrade would be forced to increase prices in May.
“Three months ago, we wrote to you about the flash memory shortage driven by AI datacenter demand. Since then, the situation has intensified rather than stabilized, and we want to give you a clear update on what we’re seeing in the market,” Lewis says.
“Prices continue to rise, and we don’t expect memory prices to go down in 2026. While some industry analysts project this could extend into 2027, we’re focused on what we can see clearly: the pricing pressure and allocation constraints will persist through the remainder of this year. We did not make any price increases in April. However, our costs are increasing significantly, and we will have to increase prices in May. We’re sharing this now not to drive urgency, but to give you the information you need to plan your own equipment decisions. Whatever timing works for your business, we wanted you to hear it directly from us.”
ProGrade’s issues here are not specific to its business but are affecting the entire industry. The problem has gotten so dire that price increases are not the only concern: just having enough products to fill store shelves is becoming harder.
“We’re grateful to our retail partners—including our own site, Amazon globally, and our authorized resellers around the world—who are working with us to navigate these challenges and keep product available to you wherever you prefer to shop,” Lewis continues.
“Our approach hasn’t changed: we build the same quality into every product, and we communicate openly about market conditions rather than leaving you to guess what’s happening. That’s been our commitment from day one. Our goal is to keep you shooting and delivering for your clients. We recognize these increases create real budget pressures, especially for independent creators and small production companies. We’re navigating the same constraints on our side, and we’re committed to being as predictable as we can be in an unpredictable market.”
Photographers who have been paying attention may have already noticed price increases for all types of digital storage, from SD cards to SSDs and even HDDs. As ProGrade explains, the issues have not even begun to stabilize, and no one should expect prices to fall in 2026 at all.
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