RAM Prices Explode 240% as AI Data Centers Create Global Memory Shortage Crisis

RAM prices are exploding -- here's why and everything you need to know about surviving RAMageddon

As a writer, you do have to find humor in your work sometimes -- especially when you think the world is going crazy. For me, that comes with a good "ageddon" in your headline when the RAM pricing crisis truly sets in. You've heard a lot about it, plenty about how desktop PCs and components are rocketing up in cost. The average price of consumer RAM sticks on Amazon has climbed by over 240% in my check of over 100 listings. But there are levels to it, and next year, you could see the prices of laptops, games consoles, phones, tablets and more be inflated. And the cause of it? AI. Let me explain. Think of the production of RAM like an apple orchard. The critical chips at the center of all this are DRAM (the apples), and there are only three key orchards to buy apples from: Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology control around 95% of the global DRAM production collectively. Things are ticking along well -- the weather has been perfect for growing plenty of apples for stable production with high yields, and the demand remained at a solid level from consumers to make a whole lot of apple pie. That means these companies can collectively decide a reasonable price for the apples and keep everyone happy. Now imagine that a global apple pie maker swoops in and buys all the apples. This is the AI data center boom, which is largely driven by the massive increase in demand from the likes of Oracle and AWS. To run AI as speedily as you see in the likes of ChatGPT-5 and Google Gemini 3, you need super-fast memory, which comes from RAM and SSDs (by the way, SSD chips will also be impacted, but that's a different story). These orchards are unable to keep up with the demand, which creates a massive seasonal drought and forces customers desperate for RAM to wave whatever money they have and beg for the few remaining apples. The cause is a supply and demand problem. As I said, these critical DRAM chips are being hoovered up in the AI data center boom, which doesn't leave a lot for consumer product makers to grab. That leaves the small group of chip fabrication plants with the ability to charge whatever they want in this drought, causing the prices to soar, as they decide whether the money they make off consumer RAM is even worth being in the business of furnishing consumer PCs. In fact, certain companies are considering pulling the plug entirely on the consumer side. I've heard a few are considering this behind closed doors, but the first public casualty is consumer RAM company Crucial, as Micron pivots to supply/make a ton of money off AI. Who else could make the jump? That'll be just me making predictions at the moment, but I highly doubt Micron is going to be the only company to go down this path. You're already seeing it happen in the desktop PC market. Both CyberpowerPC and Maingear issued warnings that global memory prices "surged by 500%," which will lead to price increases as early as December 7. You can also see it by just looking at The Camelizer on literally any Amazon RAM listing. But DRAM chips are needed for so many different categories of tech, and the nervousness of manufacturers talking to me behind closed doors is palpable. Because plans are set for all kinds of new laptops, tablets and more, but how much they will need to charge for them is in constant flux. As these prices continue to skyrocket, this will very likely impact the price of upcoming things like the Steam Machine, the iPhone 18 and more. But where will it end? In my mind, there are only two ways this price spike ends. Let me explain the scenarios. First, this drought is going to worsen. In the immediate future, industry analysts and manufacturers predict that prices for DRAM and NAND chips (RAM and SSD) will continue to rise throughout the first half of 2026. This is because of the long-term contracts these fabrication plants are continuing to fulfil -- to the point where in early next year, stockpiles for consumers to buy could run completely dry. If demand continues to be this high, new multi-billion-dollar chip fabrication plants will need to be made, and that will be a long wait until they can start shipping. PC Gamer is reporting Micron plans to invest nearly $10 billion into a new DRAM facility, but you'll have to wait until 2028 for that to start producing. That means in this scenario, the RAM price crisis could last well into 2028. I know I've been a doomer in saying that I think AI might be a bubble, with all the vendor financing agreements and promises of making money in exchange for burning a whole lot of cash. OpenAI has made $1.5 trillion in chip commitments, while Reuters reports the company has made $12 billion in annual revenue this year. That's a big tab, and very bubble-ish in my mind. So what would happen if all of this money is spent on buying all the apples, but companies and investors get a reality check that the pies just aren't good? What happens if the return on investment in this AI rollout doesn't materialize? Well, two things happen. First, tech companies will slam the brakes on new data center construction and AI scaling. The demand for DRAM and NAND chips will dry up overnight. And second, that will leave warehouses absolutely packed with these apples that the orchards are desperate to sell. At that point, the prices come crashing down to get rid of them all. It will be a systemic shock to the whole industry, and a sharp, severe, rapid end to the RAM pricing crisis. Which of these is true? I don't know. I can look at all the bubble-ish vibes I'm getting from the insane valuations of the Magnificent Seven (stock prices of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla) on the back of AI and be scared. But if it is the life-changing tech that changes the world, then those prices would be warranted. However, one thing that cannot be ignored is that this rapid onward march into the future is hurting us. The people who want to buy cool tech and not be extorted at the expense of companies chasing this dream of artificial general intelligence (AGI).

RAM prices are out of control. What does that mean for Apple devices?

Apple is uniquely positioned to whether the current RAM storm, but it can't hold out forever. You have undoubtedly heard about the recent massive spike in RAM prices. RAM for consumer devices like desktops, laptops, graphics cards, and smartphones (DDR, GDDR, and LPDDR memory) has skyrocketed in recent weeks. Prices are 50-100 percent higher than they were back in the summer, with some premium 32GB DDR5 kits going for as much as $400 at Amazon! The problem, as it so often is, traces back to AI. The massive rush to build more AI datacenters at all costs has already increased demand for water and electricity, and previously sucked up much of the supply chain for the chips we use in consumer devices. RAM appears to be the latest culprit -- AI data centers are using up a lot of the supply of DDR memory, but the GPUs they use often use a different kind of RAM called HBM -- high bandwidth memory. Manufacturers have begun shifting some production to keep up with demand, making the DDR memory used in consumer devices even more scarce. It has gotten so bad that Samsung reportedly can't even sell RAM to Samsung. The situation has caused prices to rise for PC desktops and laptops, graphics cards, and plenty of other consumer devices. But Apple products haven't been affected -- at least not yet. But will the surge in RAM pricing eventually make our iPhones and Macs more expensive? The situation is complicated. If nothing else, Apple is a big and popular monolithic producer of consumer goods with a locked-in supply chain. Apple doesn't buy RAM month-to-month; it negotiates big, long-term contracts for parts in extremely high volumes. So for Apple, RAM likely hasn't gotten more expensive yet, because they locked in prices months or even years ago for a huge long-term supply. What we don't know is when Apple negotiates its supply contracts and how long this surge in RAM pricing will last. A Citi report published on X last year revealed that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron supplied DRAM for iPhone 17, but it's unclear whether Apple negotiates contracts before each phone release or whether they are the same for Mac chips. Because the unified memory chips in Apple's processors are soldered to the chip, there aren't teardowns to reveal the make or model of the RAM. There's also the possibility that Apple's prices go up to cover the threat of additional costs. When airlines raise ticket prices due to a surge in the price of oil, that's usually an artificial increase. Major airlines buy fuel on long-term contracts and hedge prices by locking in rates well in advance of a price spike. Airlines are raising prices because they can, and we have seen many other industries use inflation and tariffs as cover to raise prices by a much larger amount than the increase in their actual costs. Also, prices rarely go down once costs stabilize, but that's another issue. In other words, even if Apple isn't paying more for RAM right now, it might have to in the near future, and it might raise prices regardless. There's just no way to know. Historically, increases in RAM prices affect products in which RAM is a huge part of the total cost. On an inexpensive smartphone, where RAM might be 10 or 15 percent of the total bill of materials (BOM), a doubling of RAM costs can completely destroy the slim margins it sells at. Apple's typical RAM cost is estimated to be more like 4 percent of the BOM cost, and Apple's margins are high -- in the 20-30 percent range for most products, and higher on high-end Macs. Apple also charges a lot for additional RAM in Macs -- you'll pay $200 more for 8GB, essentially $20 worth of RAM. Even if Apple's cost for RAM doubles, it still has margin to spare. Granted, Apple is very protective of its margins and doesn't ever want to make less profit on each sale. But it certainly has the ability to withstand a few months or even a year of a big DRAM price surge without losing money, even at current prices. The full retail price of an Apple product rarely changes. It has been known to happen, especially in specific regions where a big swing in the exchange rate and/or taxes that must be included in the price necessitate a shift. In general, though, Apple's pricing is incredibly steady. When the company raises prices, it does so with the introduction of a new product. For example, Apple likely wouldn't raise the price of the iPhone 17 due cover rising component costs, but would rather just raise the iPhone 18's price when it is introduced. One notable exception, however, was in March 2002, when it hiked the price of its new G4 iMac jus two months after its launch due to "significant increases in component costs for memory and LCD flat-panel displays." Of course, Apple was a much different company back then. Apple just released a number of its higher-priced products: the iPhone 17 line (including an overpriced iPhone Air), M5 MacBook Pro, and M5 iPad Pro. Its next big product lineup will be higher-priced M5 MacBook Pros (which have margin to spare), M5 MacBook Air, and perhaps some real budget value products like a low-cost MacBook and iPhone 17e. In other words, Apple's next products are a mix of some high-end, high-margin Macs and value products that by definition have to come in well under the rest of the product line. It would surprise me if we saw higher starting prices for those products due to the current RAM situation. Nobody really knows what Apple will do with pricing, and anyone who claims differently is as trustworthy as a magic 8-ball. But our educated guess is that Apple won't adjust its prices due to the RAM shortage in the short term. If this supply crunch lasts through the year to the fall 2026 product cycle, there's a very good chance we'll see some higher prices on specific SKUs to offset Apple's increased costs and preserve its overall margins.