14 DAY TRIAL // Although not a desirable situation, it is quite understandable why Toshiba has decided to cut its NAND production at this time. The prices have been going down for quite some time and the best way to force them up is to decrease supply.
The thing is that any NAND manufacturer could simply increase its prices, but if the level of production is kept the same, huge stockpiles of unsold merchandise will stay in its depots.
To try and keep in check the costs of such a move, Toshiba will simply not manufacture what it considers will be left in stock once the price is increased and, therefore, the money can be used somewhere else.
The company estimates that a 30% manufacturing reduction needs to be made at its Yokkaichi Operation plant in Mie Prefecture, in the Land of the Rising Sun.
We should hope that this doesn’t impact the SSD market also.