Before that, let me give you a little backstory. To make an SSD, very few components are needed:
- Controller chip – These are made only by a few dedicated companies.
- NAND chip – Used for storage, and available from many manufacturers.
- DRAM – Optional, and follows a similar sourcing story.
- Passive components – Resistors, capacitors, inductors, ferrite beads, etc.
- Active components – Oscillators, crystals, voltage regulators, etc.
- A PCB – To mount all the components.
- Firmware – Provided by the controller manufacturer, and can be customized as needed.
So, everything is openly available. The real question is: how do you make an SSD cheaper? Where do you cut corners?
You might opt for a cheaper controller, a lower-grade NAND chip, and more affordable active components. You might also skip DRAM altogether since it's optional. The PCB cost is hard to reduce unless you're manufacturing in bulk.
So what's left?
Passive components. That's where the final layer of cost-cutting often happens.
How is it done? In electronics domain, we sometimes call this
"cost optimization by failure analysis". It involves removing or reducing the specs of capacitors, ferrite beads, and similar components, one by one, until the device stops working. You intentionally go beyond the minimum design recommendations and start "down-binning."
Companies using this strategy often rely on bulk manufacturing to reduce costs even further. They also offer warranties not because they’re trying to scam customers, but because their main goal is to survive on very thin profit margins. Even if 50% of the drives fail and are replaced, they still make a profit, because the actual cost of a $70 drive might only be around $25.
That’s how they operate.
So, back to your question: is
Silicon Power one of those brands? I don’t have anything specific to say about that brand. But generally, when I see the cheapest drive in a particular segment, I always look at it through the lens of
cost optimization by failure analysis.
