Memory Chip Shortage to Intensify Through 2027 as AI Demand Pushes Prices Up 5-6x

Samsung expects memory shortage to worsen through 2027 and last until 2028

The ongoing shortage of RAM chips is not only expected to persist into the next year, but will likely intensify in 2027, with tight supply conditions lasting until at least 2028, according to Samsung, which manufactures and supplies roughly a third of the world's memory chips. Samsung said in its Q2 earnings call that frontier AI labs, desperate to obtain access to memory infrastructure, have been "sharing their medium- to long-term demand forecasts" directly with the Korean tech giant to secure future supply. The high demand enables Samsung to prioritize customers willing to sign long-term contracts. This multi-year visibility will allow the company to install equipment and ramp up production without worrying that demand will dry up, helping it avoid the memory industry's historical boom-and-bust cycles. Memory shortages driven by the AI boom have also pushed up chip prices in recent months. This has been a double-edged sword for Samsung: While sales at its semiconductor unit hit an all-time high in Q2, profitability in its smartphone and TV divisions shrank, as the higher-priced chips drove up component costs. Samsung has even started passing some of those increasing component costs on to consumers by increasing the prices of its Galaxy smartphones and tablets. However, as a result, demand for these devices has dropped. The memory shortage, informally dubbed "the RAMaggedon", has also forced Apple, Samsung's archrival, to raise the prices of its Macbooks, Macs and iPads last month. On its latest earnings call, Apple warned that revenue growth for the upcoming quarter is projected to slow to between 9% and 11% year-over-year, down from its recent 16% quarterly growth rate. With memory manufacturers shifting production capacity toward AI data centers and away from consumer electronics, consumers are facing a new reality: higher device prices. Nvidia is expected to raise its consumer graphics card prices by 20% to 30%, which may further drive up prices of gaming devices, desktop computers, consoles, laptops, and the like.

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One of Apple's memory suppliers is making a massive investment to expand chip production amid global shortages, but it won't make your next iPhone any cheaper. On Friday, SK hynix announced that it has approved a 54 trillion won ($38.3 billion) investment to build two new semiconductor fabrication plants in South Korea. The investment includes 35.2 trillion won ($24 billion) towards the Yongin Y2 facility, which will produce high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and next-generation DRAM products. Construction will begin in 2027 and wrap up by 2029. A 19.1 trillion won ($13.6 billion) investment will go towards building the Cheongju M17 facility set to open in late 2028. The facility would serve as a NAND production base, geared toward enterprise SSD and AI inference storage. SK hynix is one of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers. It's one of Apple's key memory suppliers and provides components used across Apple's lineup, including the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Unfortunately, neither of these investments directly helps the average Apple consumer. Instead, the new facilities are being built to serve high-growth AI and enterprise markets, not traditional consumer electronics. Rockets and feathers Of course, one could argue that by creating dedicated facilities for increasing enterprise products, SK hynix could give itself breathing room to manufacture consumer-grade products. And, maybe that's true. Even still, SK hynix's investment isn't going to solve issues anytime soon. After all, the plants aren't even slated to open until late 2028 at the earliest. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: this is going to get worse before it gets better. Currently, DRAM prices are edging up to an untenable level for even large corporate customer bases, with nothing to say of the average consumer. DDR-5 DRAM prices have very nearly sextupled on average on the consumer side. In February 2025, two 16GB sticks of DDR5-6000 RAM sold for about $100. Present pricing is around $600. We've most recently seen the effects as Apple increased prices on most of its product lineup. The increase wasn't surprising. Inflation and supply chain issues often drive prices "up like a rocket," especially on consumer-level products. The market, bolstered by consumers at all levels rushing to buy products "before they get any more expensive," stands to make a good profit. That is, at least, until people genuinely can't afford the costs. And while we'll likely see a drop in pricing due to increased manufacturing and market correction, I wouldn't expect it to be fast or dramatic. Instead, prices will float "down like a feather." Slowly, and likely in a sine-wave pattern. The point, as it often is, is that asymmetric price transmission is a real pain in the ass for the end consumer. There's more than supply and demand Global supply chain shortages are a real thing. The boom of AI has put a lot of stress on manufacturers to keep up with demand. But let's not point the accusatory finger purely at data centers and general market scarcity. There's plenty of blame to go around. It's important to remember that SK hynix is also one of the companies targeted in a recent price fixing suit. The complaint centers on DRAM, the working memory used in computers, smartphones, tablets, servers and many other electronic devices. Samsung, SK hynix and Micron dominate the global DRAM market, giving them enormous influence over memory supply. Allegedly, Samsung, SK hynix and Micron shifted manufacturing capacity toward HBM, which commands much higher prices from AI companies. This shift has left DRAM supplies dwindling across the tech industry. And yes, companies are allowed to pursue more profitable products. But the real question is whether these companies coordinated the production decisions or reached them independently. Ultimately, whatever investments SK hynix makes right now doesn't solve the immediate problem. Suppliers have already sold their entire production capacity of memory at high prices through 2027.

AI keeps consumer prices high in 'RAMaggedon' chip crunch

Hong Kong (AFP) - Print-outs of articles about the global memory chip shortage are pinned beside a price list at a Hong Kong computer shop, offering an explanation to confused customers feeling the pinch. Price rises for goods such as laptops and smartphones, with cars potentially next, have been an unwelcome side-effect of the artificial intelligence gold rush -- and the squeeze is far from over. Samsung Electronics' chief financial officer said this week shortages of microchips that store digital data will likely deepen in 2027 and stay tight through 2028. The crunch has been nicknamed "RAMaggedon" after the components called RAM, or "random-access memory". It is caused as profit-hungry chipmakers pivot to producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) -- a more advanced type of computer memory in huge demand to help train and run AI tools. The articles on display at In-Technology Services -- one of many compact vendors crammed into Hong Kong's Wan Chai Computer Centre -- are to inform customers who "don't know what happened," manager Wade Lam told AFP. The centre's shops sell tech equipment of all sorts, from computer parts to gadgets and games consoles. Ken Tam, manager of Videocom Computer, which specialises in custom-built PCs, said business has halved since price rises began in September. Sixteen gigabytes of RAM used to cost HK$300-400 ($40-50) but the price has now hit HK$1,500, he said. "When it suddenly gets so expensive, customers have a psychological barrier," Tam told AFP. "If they need it, they will buy it," but otherwise they will wait, or "lower their standards" and buy a less high-performing memory chip, he said. Chinese competition Analyst Ellie Wang at the Taiwan-based market research firm TrendForce said memory prices for PCs and smartphones were up around five to six times compared to a year ago. The AI boom has brought humungous profits and share price jumps to the world's top three memory chip makers: South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, along with US giant Micron. In fourth place is ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), which became mainland China's most valuable company on Monday when it made its market debut in Shanghai -- another sign of how red-hot the sector has become. CXMT, as a relative newcomer, "remains in a follower position regarding leading-edge technologies", James Zhao, senior principal analyst at Omdia, told AFP. HBM is used in data centre servers to support other powerful chips -- such as those made by US titan Nvidia -- that execute the dizzyingly complex calculations of AI systems. But when it comes to conventional RAM, and a type for computers called DRAM, "the current supply-constrained market environment" could bring CXMT "late-mover advantages", he said. At a shopping centre in a different part of Hong Kong, customer Henry Wong, an investment banker, said he had chosen to upgrade the RAM in an older laptop instead of buying a new one with even better specs. "After upgrading the memory, I found it ran really smoothly, and I stopped wanting to buy a new computer," he told AFP. 'Bubble' Automakers say they are facing rising costs for in-vehicle computer systems, which could also soon push up the price of new vehicles. In Tokyo's tech hub of Akihabara, Charles Brousse, a 30-year-old graphic designer and custom PC builder from Belgium, said prices for RAM, graphics cards and motherboards have hit "ridiculous levels". For his "PC & Chill" service, Brousse does not buy parts to pre-build machines -- as it is too expensive -- but he requires clients to purchase their own that he assembles. The chip shortage is pushing people to buy cheaper laptops than desktops, which can last up to a decade, said Brousse, in Tokyo on his honeymoon. "I'm not sure that's a good thing; people end up buying products with shorter lifespans, which fuels a cycle of consumption." Brousse added that the fact it is driven by the "speculative bubble" of AI is also frustrating, "because I'm a graphic designer by trade, so AI has a real impact on my profession."

Samsung, SK Hynix Already Sell Out All of 2027's Memory Chips

Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have already sold out every bit of memory chip supply they plan to make in 2027. That's more than a year before any of it ships. If you're planning to buy a new phone, laptop, or PC next year, brace yourself. Prices are almost certainly going up. Why this matters to your wallet Memory chips, the RAM and storage that go into nearly everything with a screen, are already tight. When supply runs this short, manufacturers pass the cost straight to buyers. Phone and computer prices have been climbing throughout 2026 because of the memory crunch, and mobile memory chip prices alone have nearly doubled this year. With 2027 production completely spoken for, that pressure isn't easing up. If you've been putting off a new device, buying sooner rather than later could save you money. According to Taiwanese outlet DigiTimes, industry insiders say the three companies have locked in deals covering all their 2027 output. Normally, July and August are when companies negotiate contracts for the following year. This time, buyers scrambled early. Memory makers are pushing them into contracts that run three to five years, with payment required upfront. The real culprit is artificial intelligence. Companies building AI data centers need enormous amounts of a specialized memory called HBM. They're paying a premium to get it. That's pulling factory capacity away from the ordinary chips your phone and laptop need. It's the same squeeze that's already made iPhones, Macs, and iPads more expensive this year, with one memory maker exec even hinting Apple's own demand helped drive up prices industry-wide. ADATA's chairman, Simon Chen, confirmed the shortage publicly. He said AI-related chips could eat up nearly 70 percent of all memory production, leaving a shrinking slice for everyday gadgets. Industry estimates suggest total memory supply will only cover 60 to 70 percent of what buyers want in 2027. Some smaller companies without existing supply deals may not get memory at all. They could be forced to wait until 2028. Storage chips face similar pressure. Suppliers expect that market to lock up by the end of August 2026 too. What you can do about it If you were already planning to upgrade your phone, laptop, or PC, buying before the end of 2026 could save you money compared to waiting. Retailers haven't announced official price hikes tied to this specific report yet. But given how memory shortages have already pushed device prices higher throughout 2026, more increases in 2027 look likely.

AI keeps consumer prices high in 'RAMaggedon' chip crunch

Memory chip prices are rising significantly due to artificial intelligence demand. This shortage is impacting consumer electronics and potentially vehicles soon. Chipmakers are prioritizing advanced memory for AI training and operations. Customers face higher costs and are delaying purchases or lowering standards. The crunch is expected to continue through 2028 impacting global markets. Print-outs of articles about the global memory chip shortage are pinned beside a price list at a Hong Kong computer shop, offering an explanation to confused customers feeling the pinch. Price rises for goods such as laptops and smartphones, with cars potentially next, have been an unwelcome side-effect of the artificial intelligence gold rush and the squeeze is far from over. Samsung Electronics' chief financial officer said this week shortages of microchips that store digital data will likely deepen in 2027 and stay tight through 2028. The crunch has been nicknamed "RAMaggedon" after the components called RAM, or "random-access memory". It is caused as profit-hungry chipmakers pivot to producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) a more advanced type of computer memory in huge demand to help train and run AI tools. The articles on display at In-Technology Services one of many compact vendors crammed into Hong Kong's Wan Chai Computer Centre are to inform customers who "don't know what happened," manager Wade Lam told AFP. The centre's shops sell tech equipment of all sorts, from computer parts to gadgets and games consoles. Ken Tam, manager of Videocom Computer, which specialises in custom-built PCs, said business has halved since price rises began in September. Sixteen gigabytes of RAM used to cost HK$300-400 ($40-50) but the price has now hit HK$1,500, he said. "When it suddenly gets so expensive, customers have a psychological barrier," Tam told AFP. "If they need it, they will buy it," but otherwise they will wait, or "lower their standards" and buy a less high-performing memory chip, he said. Chinese competition: Analyst Ellie Wang at the Taiwan-based market research firm TrendForce said memory prices for PCs and smartphones were up around five to six times compared to a year ago. The AI boom has brought humungous profits and share price jumps to the world's top three memory chip makers: South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, along with US giant Micron. In fourth place is ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), which became mainland China's most valuable company on Monday when it made its market debut in Shanghai another sign of how red-hot the sector has become. CXMT, as a relative newcomer, "remains in a follower position regarding leading-edge technologies", James Zhao, senior principal analyst at Omdia, told AFP. HBM is used in data centre servers to support other powerful chips such as those made by US titan Nvidia that execute the dizzyingly complex calculations of AI systems. But when it comes to conventional RAM, and a type for computers called DRAM, "the current supply-constrained market environment" could bring CXMT "late-mover advantages", he said. At a shopping centre in a different part of Hong Kong, customer Henry Wong, an investment banker, said he had chosen to upgrade the RAM in an older laptop instead of buying a new one with even better specs. "After upgrading the memory, I found it ran really smoothly, and I stopped wanting to buy a new computer," he told AFP. 'Bubble': Automakers say they are facing rising costs for in-vehicle computer systems, which could also soon push up the price of new vehicles. In Tokyo's tech hub of Akihabara, Charles Brousse, a 30-year-old graphic designer and custom PC builder from Belgium, said prices for RAM, graphics cards and motherboards have hit "ridiculous levels". For his "PC & Chill" service, Brousse does not buy parts to pre-build machines as it is too expensive but he requires clients to purchase their own that he assembles. The chip shortage is pushing people to buy cheaper laptops than desktops, which can last up to a decade, said Brousse, in Tokyo on his honeymoon. "I'm not sure that's a good thing; people end up buying products with shorter lifespans, which fuels a cycle of consumption." Brousse added that the fact it is driven by the "speculative bubble" of AI is also frustrating, "because I'm a graphic designer by trade, so AI has a real impact on my profession."

AI Memory Bottleneck Could Persist Until 2028 - SAMSUNG ELECT LTD by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (OTC:S

EXCLUSIVE: The Memory Bottleneck Is Set To Persist Until 2028, Expert Says 2028 is the earliest point when the industry's competing expansion plans could simultaneously translate into meaningful production, according to Counterpoint Research Director MS Hwang. "The point at which all of these expansion plans will simultaneously contribute to actual production output is expected to be 2028 at the earliest," Hwang told Benzinga in an exclusive interview. The timeline matters because demand is already outrunning supply. AI is no longer consuming only high-bandwidth memory attached to GPUs. The next wave of infrastructure spending is also pulling conventional DRAM into the shortage. AI Is Turning Conventional DRAM Into A Bottleneck Successive waves of AI adoption are driving demand for both conventional DRAM used alongside CPUs and HBM used by AI accelerators. Counterpoint expects pent-up demand from agentic AI and AI server CPU growth to push conventional DRAM prices even higher. Prices already surged sequentially during the second quarter: * Samsung emerged as the biggest beneficiary. The South Korean giant reclaimed the global DRAM crown with 39% revenue share, returning to levels last seen in 2024. * SK hynix dropped from 39% a year earlier to 26%. * Micron reached 25%, putting it within one percentage point of second place. Counterpoint Vice President of Research Neil Shah said Micron's DRAM revenue has increased fivefold since the second quarter of 2025. The shift shows why the current cycle is unusual. The winners aren't simply the companies with the best technology. Capacity itself is becoming an asset. China Adds Another Layer to the Supply Equation CXMT's DRAM revenue surged 716% year over year in the second quarter, making it the world's fastest-growing DRAM supplier, according to Counterpoint. Chinese capacity alone is unlikely to break the current pricing cycle anytime soon, Hwang said. Global memory producers are expanding alongside China. The key question is when all that capacity hits the market together. For now, that answer remains 2028 at the earliest. That leaves AI demand as the bigger near-term variable. "The ultimate risk would be a downturn in AI capital expenditure," Hwang added. If AI spending remains strong, aggressive capacity additions eventually become the force capable of reversing memory prices. Until then, the industry faces an unusual setup: rising prices are encouraging more factories, but the factories may arrive too late to solve today's shortage. For Micron, Samsung and SK hynix, that delay could keep the memory cycle stronger for longer. Image: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Now That 2027 RAM Manufacturing Capacity Has Reportedly Been Sold Through, It's Hard To Imagine the RAMageddon Ending Any Time Soon

It feels like no matter where I look recently, there's more evidence that the RAM crisis isn't ending any time soon. Now, a new report suggests that all three memory manufacturers -- Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron -- have collectively sold through their 2027 memory manufacturing capacity to, you guessed it, AI companies. According to a report from Digitimes and spotted by TweakTown, all DRAM and HBM capacity has been sold through for 2027, with no further supply planned. (The companies themselves have not yet confirmed this to be the case.) Of course, that only means that retail prices are going to go up even further in the near future. Selling through all the capacity for next year would be bad enough for consumers, but the problem is that most of the companies buying up this capacity have done so through long-term purchasing agreements, essentially pre-ordering memory that hasn't even been manufactured yet over a five-year term. Unless more capacity opens up somewhere in the next few years, it's hard to imagine that RAM will become more affordable and less scarce any time soon. It's not just memory that's affected. According to that Digitimes report, NAND storage is growing in demand too. Luckily, NAND capacity hasn't been completely absorbed, because there are more companies supplying the stuff. But it's not exactly hard to see that SSDs have been growing steadily more expensive over the last six months or so. Just look at the Western Digital SN7100, a pretty bog-standard PCIe 4 drive. According to Camelcamelcamel, it was about $110 in January for 1TB of storage, but now it's 52% more expensive, costing $189 before the tiny discount that Amazon currently has running. If NAND manufacturing capacity grows as scarce as RAM, I can only imagine how much that drive is going to cost this time next year. All I know is that I grow weary of covering the RAM crisis, but it's hard to look at anything in the hardware space and not see the effects. Just this month, the Xbox Series X went up in price, and a month ago, the Steam Machine came out at a higher price than Valve wanted because of the higher cost of memory. At this point, all I can do is beg for the AI bubble to burst so I can at least buy a decent kit of RAM for less than $500 again. Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Chip shortage is back: prices are climbing and it could last through 2027

AI data centers are soaking up memory and chipmaking capacity Demand from advanced data centers is driving chip prices up again right now. It's soaking up memory supply and manufacturing capacity, leaving fewer parts for mainstream electronics and older industrial systems, and turning what might have looked temporary into a structural shortage that analysts now think could last through 2027, maybe longer. You can already see it in the numbers: RAM that once sold for about $100 is moving toward $300, and the median laptop price is rising from roughly $800 to $1,600. Chipmakers are chasing the fatter margins in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, and server accelerators, not the older chips that still run plenty of the gadgets and business systems people depend on. So even if your phone, laptop, router, or appliance doesn't use the newest parts, you can still feel the squeeze through tighter supply, longer lead times, and higher costs. Apple and Microsoft have already raised some prices. If you're planning to buy laptops, PCs, gaming hardware, cars, factory systems, medical devices, retail tech, or telecom equipment, keep an eye on this. Analysts now see a structural shortage tied to long-term spending on data centers and advanced computing, and they think it could stretch through 2027 or beyond. Governments are trying to respond through the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, the European Union Chips Act, and new efforts in Brazil, Argentina, and parts of Africa that cover design, assembly, testing, packaging, silicon photonics, advanced memory, and new fabs. Still, don't expect prices to fall overnight.