With ultrabooks expected to create new demand for solid-state drives, suppliers of SSDs actually have mixed feelings about the impact on their businesses, according to industry sources.

While hoping that booming ultrabook sales would help accelerate the adoption of SSDs into PCs, the players also expressed caution that ultrabooks are still high-priced causing sales to be slow.

For instance, the Asustek Zenbook that comes with an 128GB SSD is priced at US$999, too close to the popular MacBook Air to be favored. Ultrabooks may need to be priced lower in order to gain widespread adoption, the sources suggested.

But one of the primary reasons behind expensive ultrabooks is SSD costs, the sources observed. If ultrabook prices need to edge lower in order to win the mass acceptance, suppliers of SSDs as well as controller providers will have to absorb the costs themselves, the sources indicated.

However, there are still ways to drag down SSD prices such as NAND flash producers' technology transition to sub-20nm processes, the sources pointed out.

Source:digitimes