A sudden and dramatic SSD price hike is shaking up South Korea’s PC hardware market, with popular consumer NVMe drives from Western Digital and Samsung reportedly jumping to levels that make budget PC builds far harder to justify. After periods where memory and storage pricing seemed to be easing, this sharp reversal is the kind of volatility that can instantly derail an upgrade plan or a new build.
The biggest shock involves Western Digital’s WD Black SN850X series. Recent price tracking shared by @harukaze5719 indicates the SN850X has surged so sharply that even the least expensive option is now listed around 600,000 won (about $400). Not long ago, it was reportedly available near 300,000 won (about $200), meaning the price appears to have doubled in a short span of time. To put the difference in perspective, the SN850X 1TB is commonly seen around $200–$250 in the North American market, highlighting just how extreme the South Korea pricing has become.
Higher-capacity models look even more startling. The 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB versions of the SN850X are reportedly being listed as high as 4.5 million won (roughly $3,000). At that price level, buyers are looking at the cost of a top-tier graphics card rather than a consumer SSD—an especially painful comparison for anyone trying to balance a parts list for gaming, content creation, or a general-purpose build.
Other Western Digital drives appear to be climbing alongside the SN850X. The WD Black SN8100 is also said to be heavily affected, with the 4TB model reaching about 2.5 million won. The SN8100 1TB is reportedly around 628,000 won (about $419), while the 2TB version is listed near 1.25 million won (about $834). Even for users who planned to “settle” for a different model, these kinds of increases can remove the usual fallback options.
Samsung’s NVMe lineup isn’t being spared either. Pricing is described as harder to track consistently because Samsung SSDs are sold through distributors in the country, but the numbers that are visible are still eye-opening. The Samsung 990 PRO 1TB is reportedly showing up around 470,000 won (about $313), roughly double the 200,000–250,000 won range it previously sold for. Meanwhile, the Samsung 9100 PRO 8TB has reportedly climbed to about 4 million won (roughly $2,670). Even if it lands below the most inflated SN850X listings, it’s still far beyond what most consumers would consider reasonable for an SSD.
With two of the biggest names in consumer storage seeing steep jumps at the same time, it raises an uncomfortable question for PC builders and upgraders in South Korea: if this is how fast SSD prices can spike, when—and where—does it stop? Other brands may be affected as well, and until pricing stabilizes, many buyers may be forced to delay builds, downsize storage plans, or hunt for better-value alternatives wherever they can be found.
