Kingston has received recognition from TrendForce as the foremost third-party supplier of SSDs in the channel for the entire year of 2022. This marks the sixth consecutive year that Kingston has led in channel SSD shipments. TrendForce’s data reveals that Kingston accounted for an impressive 28 percent of the 114 million SSD units shipped in 2022.
The global SSD market experienced a stabilization in its supply and demand dynamics in 2022, resolving the shortage of integrated circuits (ICs) that impacted the market in 2021. Despite an overall decline in global SSD shipments by 10.7% from the previous year, with only 114 million units shipped, Kingston maintained its position as the top SSD shipment leader. This solidified the company’s advantage and resulted in a growth in market share compared to 2021. Despite market challenges, the top five third-party suppliers (non-semiconductor) collectively contributed to nearly 60% of the total shipments in 2022, emphasizing Kingston’s clear leadership in SSD production, with the second-place supplier holding only a 9% share of the total channel market.
As the global economy faced challenges in 2023, with limitations on notebook and desktop shipments, module makers strategically managed high-cost inventory burdens by adopting competitive pricing in their shipping strategies. Market sentiment underwent a rapid transformation in the third quarter, driven by decisive production cuts from NAND Flash suppliers. This change in dynamics favored module manufacturers with lower-cost inventories, impacting the cost dynamics of SSDs.
The demand for PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs continued to shape the market landscape, prompting module houses to shift steadily from SATA to PCIe. TrendForce predicts that providing NVMe upgrades will enhance brand recognition and contribute to continued shipment growth. In 2022, Kingston expanded its product range within the value and high-performance drives, as well as offerings in the external and encrypted categories. The launch of the NV2 client NVMe drive in 2022 quickly propelled it to become the best-selling drive in Kingston’s lineup, with over 12 million units sold worldwide since its introduction. Building on the success of the Kingston FURY Renegade SSD, Kingston introduced a refreshed version with a heatsink option, catering to console and PC gamers, showcasing the company’s ongoing commitment to developing high-quality NVMe solutions.
In addition to diversifying its product portfolio to align with customer buying trends, Kingston stands out for its top-tier sales support and access to in-house product experts and engineers. This commitment has resulted in over three successful decades of reliability and support for customers. Kingston’s achievement of the #1 rank in the SSD market for the sixth consecutive year echoes its success in the DRAM division, where it has been the largest third-party memory module supplier for an impressive 20 consecutive years.
Kingston expressed gratitude for achieving this top ranking once again, emphasizing the company’s unwavering commitment to serving customers and channel partners globally. The recognition from TrendForce serves as a testament to the dedication and hard work of Kingston’s entire team, reflecting the remarkable growth experienced by the SSD business.
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