If your last SD or CFexpress card order came in higher than you remembered, it’s not you. NAND wafer spot prices jumped 25% in February 2026 alone, and NAND flash contract prices climbed 55–60% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026. SD and CFexpress card prices specifically are up 70% or more from where they sat at the start of the year — a 128GB SanDisk Extreme Pro SD card that sold for around $30 in January was going for roughly $52 by March.
AI is buying the same chips your camera needs
The root cause isn’t a camera-industry problem — it’s a chip problem. AI data centers now consume enormous volumes of the same NAND flash memory that goes into camera media, and that demand is tightening supply and pushing contract prices up across the board. Lexar raised prices on SD and microSD cards more than 25% starting June 1, 2026, and other manufacturers have followed with similar increases through the summer.
Manufacturers are pulling back, not just raising prices
It’s not only a pricing story. Sony has reportedly stopped selling most of its own memory card lineup outright, rather than simply charging more for it — a sign that some manufacturers see better margins routing that NAND supply elsewhere. Higher-grade parts with stricter thermal and endurance requirements, the kind CFexpress and professional SDXC cards need, are exactly the segment getting squeezed hardest.
When does it get better?
Not soon. Most industry analysts don’t expect meaningful price relief until mid-to-late 2027, when new NAND fabrication facilities currently under construction come online and add enough volume to ease the shortage. Until then, the practical advice for working shooters is the same advice that applies to any supply crunch: buy the media you’ll need for upcoming jobs now rather than waiting, and budget for cards costing meaningfully more than they did a year ago.