Samsung shut down its foundries in Austin, Texas, last month due to the deep freeze that led to power outages. It initially expected to restart the facility after a few weeks, but that's not going to happen. The delay is not only costing Samsung millions of dollars but could also lead to an SSD shortage.

The S2 line in Samsung's Austin facility produces about 75 percent of the company's SSD controllers. DigiTimes reports that the facility is now expected to resume production in April, with shipments expected to restart from May.

Samsung SSDs Could Be in Short Supply

In the immediate short-term, the shutdown will impact the availability of PCIe-based Samsung SSDs for high-end desktop PCs. Next month, it could also lead to supply issues of Samsung SSDs for the server and mainstream PC market.

Ultimately, the shortage of Samsung SSDs in the market will push their prices up. Additionally, it will force consumers to look at alternatives, pushing their prices up as well. So, if you plan to buy a Samsung SSD anytime, you should do so sooner rather than later.

Related: The Fastest SSDs You Can Buy in 2021

Hopefully, Samsung can restart its Austin production facility soon, and start shipping SSD controllers to its other factories that manufacture SSDs. Even after production resumes, it will take a few weeks to stabilize the supply and prices of Samsung SSDs.

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Samsung was ordered to shut down its plant in Austin in the week beginning February 15, 2021. While power was restored to the facility on February 20, the company is yet to resume production.

"While we are currently making efforts to resume operations as soon as possible, the process may require more time to reach normal levels as we inspect and reconfigure the facility," Samsung spokeswoman Michele Glaze told the Austin American-Statesman.

This Shutdown Is Costing Samsung Millions of Dollars

Samsung's fabrication facility is not the only one that the power outage has impacted. NXP Semiconductors also has two facilities in Austin which were shut down during the freezing weather that hit Texas. Despite power being restored to them around the same time as Samsung's facilities, the units are yet to resume production.

A fabrication unit normally runs 24 hours a day for years without any shutdown. Manufacturing wafers is a time-consuming process, and it is not easy to quickly start such facilities after a shutdown.

Wedbush Securities analyst Matt Bryson believes that the shutdown of Samsung's Austin facility is costing the company about $10 million/day. Which means that the total damages due to the shutdown could run into hundreds of millions of dollars for the company.