RAM and Storage Prices Surge 500% as AI Demand Triggers Global Memory Crisis

The RAM pricing crisis has only just started, Team Group GM warns -- says problem will get worse in 2026 as DRAM and NAND prices double in one month

The ongoing structural change of the DRAM market caused by the shift of manufacturing capacities to production of high bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI accelerators has already caused a massive price hike of commodity DDR and LPDDR memory. However, the worst is yet to come. According to the general manager of TeamGroup, contract prices of DRAM and NAND products have almost doubled recently. Supply of commodity memory is set to worsen in early 2026, and normalization is unlikely before 2027 - 2028 when more production capacity emerges, reports DigiTimes. December contract prices of some categories of DRAM and 3D NAND increased 80% to 100% month-on-month, according to Gerry Chen, general manager of TeamGroup, a prominent maker of memory modules, solid-state drives, and products based on 3D NAND. Spot prices tell a similar story. A 16Gb DDR5 chip was priced at $6.84 on average at DRAMeXchange on September 20. On November 19 average spot price was $24.83, but on December 1 average spot price of a 16 Gb DDR5 IC increased to $27.2 (session low was $19, session high was $37). Essentially, memory alone for a 16 GB memory module costs around $217.6. A PCB, assembly, and testing, additional parts like PMIC will add $8 - $10, so a 16 GB memory module now costs $225 - $228 without manufacturers' premium, logistics, and taxes. Chen expects availability of DRAM and NAND to worsen in the first and second quarters of 2026 once distribution stockpiles are exhausted. At that point, he cautions, obtaining allocation could become difficult regardless of willingness to pay. In his view, relief would not come quickly: he projects the current shortages to extend into late 2027 and potentially beyond. The reason for shortages of commodity memory is well known: DRAM makers reallocate their production capacities to HBM (which uses larger DRAM dies than commodity types of memory) that is consumed by AI accelerators, like Nvidia's B300 or custom accelerators by large cloud service providers, such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft. These companies tend to book supply years in advance, so at some point, DRAM makers will not have enough capacity to meet demand for commodity DRAMs. Building a new greenfield fab takes at least three years, so even if companies like Micron, Samsung, or SK hynix made a decision to build a memory fab today, it would come online in late 2028 at the earliest and would be fully ramped only sometime in 2029. When it comes to NAND, NAND suppliers also prioritize large customers, which happen to be makers of AI servers. Chen does not expect capacity to swing back to PCs, smartphones, and other consumer devices in 2026, which will affect the prices of these devices. The effects are clear to see. Enthusiasts are seeing RAM prices for custom-built PCs increase by orders of magnitude week on week, with 64GB of DDR5 RAM now costing more than a PS5 in some cases.

CyberPowerPC Is Latest System Builder to Hike Prices Over Soaring DRAM Costs

CyberPowerPC is the latest PC-related retailer to announce across-the-board price increases due to skyrocketing memory prices. Expect price hikes on "all systems," effective Dec. 7 Memory prices have shot up dramatically in recent months, in some instances by close to 200%. This is driven by a surge in demand for the NAND Flash chips that go into DDR memory to power the tech giants' colossal AI data center projects. Although some firms have stockpiled memory, others are now being forced to raise prices to remain profitable. "Recently, global memory (RAM) prices have surged by 500% and SSD prices have risen by 100%," CyberPowerPC said in a statement. "As a result, CyberPower PC will begin price adjustments on all systems on December 7th, 2025." CyberPowerPC clarified in the comments that the increases are temporary and that system pricing would "adjust back accordingly when market conditions change." The thing is, no one knows when that will be, or if it will even happen. Some have warned that the memory shortage could last a decade or more, while other signs suggest the memory shortage will worsen in the short term, with further price rises expected in the new year. CyberPowerPC is just the latest company forced to make price adjustments. Modular laptop maker Framework recently paused its direct-to-consumer RAM sales, AMD is expected to raise prices in 2026 by 10% or more, and Xbox console pricing is expected to rise in due course, too. Memory manufacturers aren't helping matters. They're deliberately not ramping up production to prevent getting stuck with excess stock. They're also focusing more on HBM and low-power DDR memory for data centers, constraining supply of traditional DDR and GDDR memory. Of course, deliberately constraining supply for profit reasons is possible, too. And all of this depends on the AI bubble not bursting.

RAM prices have increased '500%,' PC builder claims -- CyberPowerPC announces price hikes in U.S. and UK starting December 7

PC retailer CyberPowerPC has just announced that it will increase prices for memory modules across the U.S. and the U.K. According to the company's X posts, even though the RAM and SSD prices have begun to climb since October 2025, it will only begin price adjustments this December. Although CyberPowerPC has assured its customers that this is a temporary adjustment and that its prices will drop once the cost has gone down, too, the retailer expects the trend to continue well into 2026 and says that RAM prices have increased by 500% in recent times, along with a 100% increase in SSD prices. This is terrible news for the market, especially as we are near the holiday season when many people tend to upgrade their systems or purchase new computers. Unfortunately, CyberPowerPC isn't the only one reacting to the DRAM and NAND shortage brought about by the massive AI demand. Some shops in Japan have already started limiting the sales of memory modules in early November, while distributors in Taiwan force buyers to match DRAM sales with motherboard purchases. Western retailers have already started being affected by these price increases, too. Micro Center has started removing price tags from its memory kits, with some stores moving from fixed to spot pricing. Even Framework, known for its modular laptops and mini PCs, has stopped selling standalone RAM to avoid scalpers taking advantage of the shortage. The situation has started to become so bad that even a 64GB DDR5 memory kit now costs almost as high as a PS5 Pro. Even big names are not immune to this memory crunch. Asus, MSI, and other manufacturers are now panic-buying RAM stocks in the spot market to stockpile their supplies and supplement their long-term contracts. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that the RAM pricing crisis isn't going away anytime soon, with other experts estimating that this could take up to a decade to resolve, as the massive AI infrastructure buildout continues. You might be a bit too late if you're looking to upgrade your current system, as prices for the best gaming RAM have already started creeping up to unreasonable prices. However, you can still get RAM as part of a pre-built or in a laptop, and Newegg is also bundling RAM with motherboards for Black Friday. We're unsure if these promotions will extend beyond that, though, so if you need more memory, you should purchase it today, as we do not see relief coming on the horizon.

Soaring DDR5 prices lead to falling motherboard sales and calls for gamers to boycott RAM

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. A hot potato: The chaotic state of RAM prices continues to impact the industry. According to a new report, motherboard sales have fallen by as much as 50% as a result of the crisis. It has also led to gamers calling for a RAM boycott in hopes of easing the situation, but the reality is that such a move is unlikely to work. We've covered the memory-pricing crisis since it began, including this deep dive into the problem and how it's caused by demand from AI data centers that require massive amounts of DRAM. A new report Japanese from outlet Gazlog states that out-of-control DDR5 prices are impacting motherboard sales, forcing manufacturers such as Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte to significantly lower their sales targets. DDR5 prices are simply stupid right now. A 64GB kit is now more expensive than a PS5 console or an RTX 5070. We've even seen several stores remove fixed pricing signs from DDR5 displays, relying on market rates because costs are changing so rapidly each day. The problem for motherboard makers is that people upgrading from DDR4 or older systems - along with first-time builders --need DDR5 to pair with their shiny new boards. But with prices so high, it's a bad time to buy. The result is a 40-50% decrease in motherboard sales compared to the same period a year earlier, writes Gazlog, leading to a lowering of sales targets. It's expected that CPU sales will eventually experience a similar fall in sales due to the RAM situation. In an attempt to fight back, there are now calls on Reddit for gamers to boycott RAM completely in the hope that prices will return to normal. The RAM Shortage is Deliberate. Refusing To Pay These Prices Now Will Save Us All A Fortune byu/Arbiter61 inpcmasterrace Unfortunately, the rallying cry is likely to have very little, if any, effect. The biggest issue, as we know, is that DRAM supply and future manufacturing capacity have already been bought out by companies to support their aggressive data center-building plans, causing the shortage. Most memory manufacturers' sales come from industry, enterprise, data-centre, and other segments that aren't consumer PCs. And while it's true that a mass boycott would have some impact on their bottom lines, there's the other issue: not everyone will take part. As we saw during Covid with graphics cards, calling for the public to boycott something for the greater good - regardless of whether it would work anyway -- rarely succeeds when there are always people willing to pay any price. And that's not mentioning the scalpers who are always ready to take advantage of other people's misery. The memory crisis is also affecting graphics cards. AMD looks set to raise prices by 10%, while both Lisa Su's firm and rival Nvidia are rumored to be considering axing some low- and mid-range cards.

You're not imagining it: RAM and storage prices are climbing fast

AI-driven chip demand is squeezing RAM and storage supply, even for everyday consumers. What's happened? The bad news keeps stacking up for anyone planning a PC build or upgrade. It's not just GPUs and RAM climbing in price. In fact, SSDs are now part of the squeeze, with chipmakers warning that shortages will stretch well into 2026. A wave of shortages now threatens to ripple across RAM, SSDs, and even hard drives, affecting not only performance-hungry rigs but also everyday systems. * CyberPowerPC has publicly confirmed it will raise prices on all systems starting December 7th due to RAM costs spiking by 500% and SSD prices doubling since October. * Memory suppliers warn of a global DRAM and SSD shortage running into late 2026 or even 2027, driven heavily by AI server demand. * As reported by Bloomberg, Lenovo has already stockpiled memory to ride out the crunch and maintain steadier PC pricing. * Among other OEMs, HP, in its recent earnings call, flagged possible price increases or lower-spec models on the back of rising component costs. Why this is important: For anyone with a PC build, an upgrade plan, or a new system in mind, this shift changes the game. The cost of building or buying even a basic PC is going up because the building blocks themselves (memory, storage, GPU) are becoming pricier. This doesn't just hit high-end gaming rigs. Even budget desktops, home-office PCs, and affordable laptops risk becoming more expensive or locked into lower-spec configurations. That means fewer upgrades, tighter budgets, and possibly waiting longer for deals. If you were hoping for discounted RAM or SSD deals during holiday sales, think again, as many suppliers are raising prices or holding back stock. Why should I care? If you've been planning to build a new PC, upgrade your current one, or buy a laptop, this memory-and-storage crunch could mean you're paying more than you bargained for, or waiting longer than expected. If your setup depends on good RAM and an SSD (for gaming, creative work, or fast multitasking), rising prices mean the value-for-money crunch may hit hard. Some configurations that were considered "entry-level plus" may no longer exist, or the same price could buy lower specs. That's especially a bummer if you want performance without breaking the bank. Recommended Videos On the flip side, if you can wait and avoid buying right away, you may be able to dodge the bulk of the price surge. Then again, you do run the risk of running with older hardware longer than planned. Either way, this shortage is a forcing function: it pushes buyers to pick between spending more now or compromising performance later. Okay, so what's next? For now, the smartest move is to assume memory and storage prices won't calm down anytime soon and plan around that. Keep an eye on PC makers that are stockpiling parts or adjusting configurations, as that will give you the best hint about where pricing is headed. If you're building your own PC, expect to juggle between grabbing parts early (before another jump hits) or waiting for rare, short-lived dips. And if you're shopping for a laptop, watch for subtle spec cuts in "new" models that quietly shave RAM or SSD sizes to keep sticker prices stable. The next few months will basically be about timing, patience, and dodging panic buys; the market's in a weird place, but staying alert can still save you from paying more than you need to.

Memory crisis and sky-high DRAM prices could run past 2028 as Samsung and SK Hynix opt to 'minimize the risk of oversupply'

The two big memory makers want to stick with boom and avoid bust. Brace yourself for the latest update to the memory supply crisis. And it's not good news. Not at all. Samsung and SK Hynix, who together are responsible for 70% of the DRAM market, have signalled their reluctance and inability, respectively, to sufficiently expand memory production. And that has lead some industry observers to conclude the crisis will run through 2028, and perhaps even beyond. "Rather than rapidly expanding facilities, we will pursue a strategy of maintaining long-term profitability," a Samsung rep said during a recent investor relations call (via Tech Insight), adding, "we will minimize the risk of oversupply through a capital expenditure (CAPEX) strategy that balances customer demand and pricing." Currently, Samsung says it's only able to fulfill 70% of DRAM orders. SK Hynix, meanwhile, sounded a slightly more aggressive note in terms of investment in expanded production. But still warned that meeting demand will not be easy. "We plan to invest approximately 30% of our sales in facilities in 2026 and accelerate the transition to 1c DRAM, but it will be difficult to resolve the supply shortage," the company said. Samsung also signalled that it isn't allowing customers to mitigate potential future price rises with large long-term contracts. "Customers want long-term contracts of several years, but Samsung Electronics does not want to tie up volumes with a specific customer in a situation where prices are rising rapidly," the Samsung rep said. To be clear, it's not that production of memory isn't increasing. It's that the increase in demand is scaling up even faster, while some key investments in production will take years to impact the supply side. Trendforce predicts that memory supply will increase by 23% in 2026. But demand will be up by 35%. Meanwhile, US company Micron is planning to invest nearly $10 billion in a new DRAM facility in Japan. But that won't be shipping out memory chips until the second half of 2028. Tech Insight therefore concludes that the memory supply crisis will "continue beyond 2028". Overall, you can see what the so-called Dramurai are probably up to. They're cautiously increasing their production capacity. But what they very likely want to avoid is massively ramping up production, only to find the AI bubble bursts and they're left with the mother of all memory supply gluts and imploding profitability. And that means so long as the AI boom continues, it looks like memory is going to come at a premium. So, be careful what you wish for. Because it sure seems like the only way that memory prices normalise any time soon is thanks to an AI bubble burst and a broader market meltdown.

"It's a perfect storm of unpreparedness, panic, and greed" - RAM prices are soaring, so what does it mean for gaming?

The price of RAM, the quick access source of memory in a computer, is currently soaring. Prices have more than doubled in two months and show no sign of slowing down. They've risen so sharply, in fact, that some shops have stopped printing price labels so they can alter the prices daily, as though they were market traders selling freshly caught fish. This problem is likely to affect us all in gaming - it isn't only a PC gaming issue. Yes, obviously it will be more expensive to build and upgrade a PC, but the rise in prices also causes problems for Valve's upcoming Steam Machine as it enters full production. Consoles aren't safe either; there's already talk of Microsoft raising Xbox prices in response, and even companies with large RAM stockpiles won't be safe forever. What's more, the component crunch isn't an isolated issue. RAM is the acute problem right now but SSD storage prices are on the rise, and graphics card prices, though more stable than they have been in previous years, remain high. These are all connected things. And if the prices continue to rise, they may push gaming beyond the reach of many people's expendable incomes. There are a few reasons, but the biggest current driver of change is everyone's favourite technological development, AI. Tech companies need RAM to power their AI platforms, so as these platforms continue to grow, so does the demand for RAM. The price of RAM has been increasing since the spring, but it was turbocharged at the start of October when colossal AI company OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, announced a deal with two of the world's largest producers of memory chips - Samsung and SK hynix. This deal will see Samsung and SK hynix provide memory to OpenAI for its huge Stargate data center initiative, which will effectively result in OpenAI commandeering 40 percent of the world's RAM output. The response? Panic buying, as companies rushed to fill their RAM reserves, which only drove prices higher. It didn't help that RAM manufacturers generally had smaller reserves to begin with because they'd produced a surplus during Covid when demand was higher, as people transitioned to working at home. Recent tariff ridiculousness - mostly between the US and China - also made matters worse, disrupting supply lines and undermining confidence as companies waited to see what would happen next. As respected tech reporter Moore's Law is Dead said in a video: "It's a perfect storm of unpreparedness, panic, and greed." On a surface level it means buying RAM for a PC will be more expensive. The newer generation DDR5 RAM is particularly expensive. Our tech reporter Will Judd tells me the 32GB DDR5 RAM he uses to test most of his builds increased from £88 to £222. At the higher end of speedy 64GB DDR5 RAM, you can find prices as high as £735 (up from £228!) making it more expensive than a PS5 Pro, especially at its current discounted rate. The knock-on effect is companies that make gaming devices that use RAM, which is pretty much all of them, have to put their prices up to compensate. Case in point: PC-builder CyberPowerPC did exactly this yesterday, warning of a price increase in December because of "market conditions". How much a company will be affected depends on how large their RAM reserves are - their stockpile, which presumably they bought at a cheaper price. As Moore's Law is Dead said, Sony seems to be well stocked, hence the company's ability to drop the price of PlayStation 5 for Black Friday and to introduce a cheaper PlayStation 5 model exclusively for Japan, which has apparently quadrupled sales in the region. Nintendo is also suspected to be well stocked, having presumably bulked RAM reserves ahead of the Switch 2 launch this year. But Microsoft is rumoured to have low levels of stockpiled RAM, so may feel the sting of rising prices soonest as it goes out to buy more. Will that then be absorbed by Microsoft as it tries to keep Xbox prices down, or will it be born out in the end-user price? There's a question mark over Valve and its approaching Steam Machine. Valve will not subsidise the cost of the machine as console manufacturers typically do in an effort to establish an installed base to sell games to, meaning the Steam Machine will much more closely reflect the price of the individual components. Valve presumably has a big enough stockpile for an initial production run, but how soon will it need more RAM that it will pay exorbitant prices for? Is this enough of a problem that it may delay the release of the Steam Machine? Given that AI demand is the driving force behind these inflated RAM prices, those prices will presumably remain high as long as tech companies invest heavily in AI, which they are currently doing. That's where the big money is so that's why everyone wants a piece of it. But there is talk of AI being a bubble that might burst, although whether or not that will bear-out, or when, is of course unknown. It's also worth noting that exacerbating factors such as tariffs and the general cost of living continue to burden the market. They are the reasons we've seen unprecedented price rises across this generation of consoles, after all - this is the first generation in memory where the price of consoles has actually gone up since launch. We're much more used to seeing prices and sizes of consoles shrink alongside the components in them, though this is harder to achieve now than it used to be. Just as it took many things to drive the prices up, it will take many things to bring them back down again. That's also assuming, of course, memory manufacturers will want to aid that. As it stands, they're making a lot of money from this, because large tech companies have a lot of money to throw around. AI and crypto mining have driven huge profits for companies which make components you need for them. Take Nvidia as an example: its share price has erupted like a volcano in the past five years, making it the most valuable company in the world today. Why would a company that's benefiting enormously from scarcity, coupled with high demand, seek to change that? That's the bigger question, because why try and launch a new console and establish an installed base for it if you're looking at prices most people will struggle to be able to afford? The only way to achieve lower prices would be to subsidise the machines heavily and take a financial hit, but why do that if you are Sony or Nintendo, whose consoles are both selling at record rates? Microsoft arguably has the biggest incentive because it has ground to gain, but we've already seen the company step back from the either-or approach to consoles and start publishing Xbox games on PlayStation instead; hardware dominance doesn't seem as important to Xbox any more. It would make more sense for a company like Sony, which is in a dominant position with PlayStation 5, to simply wait. To extend this generation of gaming even further, and continue selling and developing for PlayStation 5, all while waiting for the component market to settle down, assuming it ever does. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Late-generation development has historically resulted in some wonderful games, because dev tools and engines and processes are well established at that point, and because there is a larger installed base to sell to. Less dev upheaval plus greater potential rewards is a convincing argument. The rising price of RAM is about much more than the rising price of RAM, then. It's about strangleholds and monopolies and individuals being overlooked as hungry tech companies stampede towards AI dominance. It's also yet another disruption in a generation of gaming that is undergoing seismic, fundamental changes. "The role of the console is shifting," I heard from experts recently, and this is perhaps one more shove on its way.

It's not just RAM -- SSDs could soon cost way more too, and it's all downhill from here

Another day, another round of bad news regarding the ongoing RAM shortage and rising PC hardware prices. TrendForce reports that the NAND flash wafer supply is getting worse, which will directly impact SSD prices, and it already has. How long will it take for those price changes to trickle down to the consumer market? And how long will it take for RAM prices to improve? Today's brought us a few interesting findings, so let's dig in. Starting with the NAND flash prices, TrendForce reports that the demand for NAND flash used in SSDs is strong. To the surprise of no one, that demand is largely fueled by large enterprises (thank you, AI), meaning that's where the manufacturers currently have their focus. The massive demand has led to a short supply, which then led to a price increase in November. The monthly average prices for wafers rose from 20% to 60%. Triple-level cell (TLC) memory was the most impacted. This type of NAND flash stores three bits of data per memory cell. Quad-level cell (QLC) NAND flash is also in high demand and short supply. RAM is suffering from the same problems as SSDs, but on a larger scale. Even some of the best Cyber Monday deals aren't helping these outrageous RAM prices that we're dealing with currently. Reports show it might only get worse from here as far as that's concerned. Our first source is SEDaily, which talks about Samsung's Semiconductor Division (DS), which is said to have rejected a request for DRAM from its own Mobile Experience (MX) division. Samsung's mobile sector managed to secure memory on a quarterly basis, meaning it'll have to re-negotiate the terms of the contract every three months instead of longer commitments. Odd, isn't it? It all comes down to the cost of RAM and profitability, and unfortunately for us PC gamers, the profit lies in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and AI. To that end, Micron is investing a boatload of cash into producing AI memory chips in Japan. The memory giant is said to be investing $9.6 billion into building a production facility in Japan, focused on next-gen HBM chips. With all these different companies going all-in on enterprise memory, it's hard not to wonder what'll happen to the consumer market. RAM is already up to 300% more expensive than it was a few months ago, and those NAND flash shortages are likely to affect SSD prices, too. Meanwhile, Nvidia is said to no longer be bundling VRAM with GPU dies when selling to its board partners, leaving them to find their own deals on memory. Keep in mind that all of that memory comes from the same source -- if there isn't enough DRAM for PCs, there likely won't be enough VRAM produced for GPUs, too. The PC gaming market is just going from one shortage to the next, and it looks like this one will last for a while yet.

RAM Prices Are Now So High That Some Stores Are Not Printing Price Tags

Epic CEO says high-end gaming could take years to recover from this There is a global RAM shortage that is getting out of hand (and consumers' pockets). As per multiple reports, PC and smartphone memory chips, in particular dynamic random access memory (DRAM), are severely scarce in the market, and it is causing a massive price hike. Some reports claim that RAM prices have tripled in just a year's time. Some computer stores are said have stopped printing price tags due to the volatility in the market. And the culprit? The surge in demand for memory chips in artificial intelligence (AI) data centres. RAM Shortage Lead to Unstable Price Hike Bluesky user Steve Lin (@stevelin.bsky.social) shared an image of a Central Computers outlet, which is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, where the store highlighted that due to global shortage, RAM and related components have witnessed a price hike by 20-50 percent in recent days. As a result, the store has stopped displaying fixed prices. Notice placed by Central Computers Photo Credit: Bluesky/Steve Lin The same was observed by Reddit user u/CassTexas in a different computer store. This situation is said to be occurring across the globe, even if some regions might experience a delayed hit due to existing stocks. According to a PCWorld report, a set of two 64GB DDR5 DIMMs are currently priced at $900 (roughly Rs. 80,400) on Best Buy, when the same was priced $155 (roughly Rs. 13,900) 18 months ago. Even more strikingly, The Verge reports that prices of 32GB memory chips for PC have tripled in just three months, going up from $130 (roughly Rs. 11,600) to $440 (roughly Rs. 39,300). The impact of this volatile pricing is also being felt in all allied sectors. Speaking exclusively with Gadgets 360, iQOO CEO Nipun Marya, said, "Samsung increased the prices [of memory chips] by 60 percent from September to November." As a result, the company was not able to keep the price of just launched iQOO 15 low, and it was set at Rs. 72,999 for the base variant with 12GB RAM + 256GB storage. According to a Tom's Hardware report, Valve has not finalised the price of the recently unveiled Steam Machine due to the same price hike. Nvidia and AMD are also reportedly planning to hike the prices of their GPUs by 10 percent, due to the shortage. Rumours also claim that Microsoft could be forced to again hike the prices of Xbox to mitigate component costs. Why Are RAM Prices Skyrocketing? Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said in an X (formerly known as Twitter) post, "RAM price increases will be a real problem for high-end gaming for several years. Factories are diverting leading edge DRAM capacity to meet AI needs where data centers are bidding far higher than consumer device makers." The reason behind this massive shortage and the price hikes are said to be AI-related. The recent push by major corporations, such as Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, and others, that are actively building new data centres to handle the increasing requirement of compute, or processing power, for their chatbot and various productivity tools, is said to have created the shortage. The AI infrastructure expansion is not going to stop anytime soon. So, it is difficult to say when a price correction for memory chip can be seen. Whether it is a temporary situation and an increase in production could reverse the price impact, or if natural resources scarcity could further push this shortage, can only be determined in the days to come. So, in the coming months, consumers should prepare themselves for inflated prices of smartphones, laptops, PCs, and gaming consoles.

Concern That Skyrocketing RAM Prices Driven by AI Needs Will Cause Problems for High-End Gaming for 'Several Years'

There is increasing concern that skyrocketing RAM prices will impact high-end gaming not just in the short term, but the long term. With the explosive growth of generative AI, AI data centers are hoovering up the world's memory and storage supply, sparking price hikes that some experts fear could last for decades. Cheap SSDs, DRAM, and HDDs are pretty much a thing of the past, with prices rising as AI demand outstrips supply. This has already caused price rises, with PC retailer CyberPowerPC announcing a hike for memory modules across the U.S. and the UK "due to market conditions." "Recently, global memory (RAM) prices have surged by 500% and SSD prices have risen by 100%," CyberPowerPC said. "This has had a direct impact on the cost of building gaming PCs since 10/1/25." Price rises thus kick in on December 7. The impact on PC gaming could be significant and long-lasting, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney tweeted. "RAM price increases will be a real problem for high-end gaming for several years," he said. "Factories are diverting leading edge DRAM capacity to meet AI needs where data centers are bidding far higher than consumer device makers." The situation has become so out of control that, as PCWorld reports, stores are beginning to sell RAM at 'catch-of-the-day' market prices. As CyberPowerPC pointed out, these price rises come with the holidays right around the corner, which is less than ideal. But the issue may stretch out for years to come. "The AI build-out is absolutely eating up a lot of the available chip supply, and 2026 looks to be far bigger than this year in terms of overall demand," Dan Nystedt, vice president of research at TriOrient, told CNBC. As CNBC points out, AI servers primarily run on processors from chip designers like Nvidia. These AI processors heavily rely on High-Bandwidth Memory or HBM. Nystedt said AI server companies are willing to pay top dollar for premium chips. "It could be very bad for PCs, laptops, consumer electronics and automotive, which depend on cheap memory chips," he added. And there is concern for the price of video game consoles, too. There are online rumors that Microsoft may soon be forced to up the price of Xbox consoles again in reaction to the RAM crunch. Valve has yet to announce a price for its next-gen Steam Machine, and fluctuating RAM prices may have something to do with it. If you're hunting for the best offers this week, we're actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals. Photo by Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu via Getty Images. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].