Affected by tight wafer supply, lead time for SSD controller IC and PMIC components was prolonged to 32 weeks in 2021. All controller IC suppliers generally give priority to supplying NAND Flash manufacturers, so production at module factories could not meet SSD demand in the retail market during that time. In 2H21, the supply of SSD-related components improved quarter by quarter and various module manufacturers boosted their SSD shipments in order to upsurge their annual performance. According to TrendForce research, SSD shipments through global distribution channels reached 127 million units in 2021, with an annual growth rate of 11%.

This global SSD ranking is based on the shipment volume of module houses' own in-house brands in the distribution channel market as a standard for calculation and NAND Flash manufacturers are not included. NAND Flash manufacturer supply accounts for approximately 42% of the overall distribution channel market while module factory shipments account for approximately 58%. When SSD-related components were hard to come by, NAND manufacturers' supply chain management occupied a superior position compared to module houses, so NAND manufacturers' market share in the overall distribution channel market increased compared with 2020.