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[winjer]

DRAM Prices Surge roughly 170% as Global Memory Shortage Deepens

If you've noticed that buying RAM is getting expensive, you're not alone—DRAM prices have exploded over the past year, rising an incredible 171% compared to 2024. That's more than double the price increase of gold, which "only" went up 88% in the same period. The main reason? A global rush for AI computing hardware that's causing memory shortages everywhere. According to CTEE, DRAM contract prices as of Q3 2025 are up 171.8% year-over-year, making memory one of the fastest-growing tech commodities in the world. Gold, often seen as the safest investment, climbed from $1,246 to $2,350 per ounce, but even that can't match what's happening in the semiconductor world. In short, RAM has been a better investment than gold this year.

While this price surge has already hit manufacturers, the full effect hasn't yet shown up in retail memory kits. Tom's Hardware reports that it could take several months before consumers feel the full impact, but prices for DDR5 and LPDDR5X modules could easily double by mid-2026. Anyone planning to build or upgrade a PC might want to buy memory now before the next wave of price hikes hits.

While this price surge has already hit manufacturers, the full effect hasn't yet shown up in retail memory kits. Tom's Hardware reports that it could take several months before consumers feel the full impact, but prices for DDR5 and LPDDR5X modules could easily double by mid-2026. Anyone planning to build or upgrade a PC might want to buy memory now before the next wave of price hikes hits.

ADATA chairman Chen Libai described Q4 2025 as the official start of the "DRAM bull market." He explained that while AI servers and data centers are driving most of the demand for high-end RDIMM and HBM chips, memory makers are focusing their production on those more profitable products. That leaves far fewer resources for consumer-grade DDR5, creating a ripple effect that will squeeze the PC market in 2026.

It's not just DRAM facing trouble. NAND flash memory, used in SSDs, is also seeing price increases. PHISON's CEO Jiancheng Pan went as far as predicting that the NAND shortage could last up to a decade if capacity doesn't expand quickly enough. With AI giants like NVIDIA and Google pouring billions into new data centers, the global supply chain for memory chips is stretched thin.

The AI bubble crash can't come soon enough...
And of course, this will affect every consumer device, from PCs, to consoles, smartphones, etc.

 

[Laptop1991]

Glad i just got my new PC then, i remember the GPU heist's of a few years ago, what a rip off.

 

[Gen.Grievous]

DRAM prices always fluctuate with production vs demand. Nothing new. It's a cycle that repeats itself every time.

 

[Loxus]

Sadly the AI bubble crash is years away as these companies seek to achieve Artificial General Intelligence, then Artificial Super Intelligence.

 

[winjer]

Sadly the AI bubble crash is years away as these companies seek to achieve Artificial General Intelligence.

For the good of the world, I hope you are wrong.
Because of AI, everything is more expensive. Chips, memory, energy, etc.
And in return we get more spyware, loses of thousands of jobs, plagiarism on an industrial scale, AI slop, more bots, more fake news and videos, more scams, etc.

 

[Zathalus]

Can confirm, the RAM kit I bought a few months back is now 70% more expensive at the same retailer.

 

[Sanepar]

Yeah let's believe that is the reason, every year there is a PC component with a excuse to skyrocket price since COVID.

 

[Radical_3d]

Fuck AI.

 

[winjer]

Yeah let's believe that is the reason, every year there is a PC component with a excuse to skyrocket price since COVID.

That is because we had Covid, Crypto and AI, all in just 5 years.
Tech never had so much pressure in so short time. And of course, companies like TSMC, Samsung, Hynix, etc, will gladly increase prices. For example:

The massive demand for memory coming from the AI sector has not only forced companies like Samsung, Micron, and SK hynix to restructure their production allocations, but it has also reached a point where companies have stopped taking more DDR orders.

One of the reasons for the record rise in DDR5 pricing is that most of the production has been assigned to CSPs and AI giants.

Samsung, one of the largest DRAM manufacturers, has halted contract pricing for DDR5 DRAM, with other companies likely to follow suit.

DRAM Prices Have Risen by a Whopping 172% This Year Alone, Prompting Memory Manufacturers to Halt New Orders For DDR Modules

DRAM prices have reached a 'mind-boggling' level, and it seems like the consumer memory industry is expected to be affected drastically.

wccftech.com

 

[BlackTron]

If my PC caught on fire tomorrow I would put old potato parts into service, use consoles/handhelds I already own, and wait.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Sadly the AI bubble crash is years away as these companies seek to achieve Artificial General Intelligence, then Artificial Super Intelligence.

They're already failing though. Investors are in the stage where they're seeking returns for all the billions spent, and the current machine learning models have begun showing their limitations

 

[adamsapple]

 

[Imtjnotu]

Fuck AI.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Console folks aren't immune to these price hikes either; your Playstations and Switches need DRAM too.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

People who think the AI bubble is crashing any time soon aren't paying attention.
I really think it will take years until that happens tbh.

 

[Thief1987]

Console folks aren't immune to these price hikes either; your Playstations and Switches need DRAM too.

Ok? There is no one said otherwise here

 

[The Cockatrice]

So next gen consoles and gpus will cost twice now?

 

[Magic Carpet]

If my PC caught on fire tomorrow I would put old potato parts into service, use consoles/handhelds I already own, and wait.

Yea, right now building a PC is financially dumb.
The entire PC industry is close to making a giant flushing sound.

 

[Loxus]

For the good of the world, I hope you are wrong.
Because of AI, everything is more expensive. Chips, memory, energy, etc.
And in return we get more spyware, loses of thousands of jobs, plagiarism on an industrial scale, AI slop, more bots, more fake news and videos, more scams, etc.

So true.

We can blame those who pay money and subscribe to the more advanced AI features as well.

It makes those AI companies invest in more AI Datacenters.

 

[analog_future]

So next gen consoles and gpus will cost twice now?

AI bubble may burst before then.

 

[Roman Empire]

There is one easy fix to this.

Download Cloud Ram

 

[The_Mike]

If my PC caught on fire tomorrow I would put old potato parts into service, use consoles/handhelds I already own, and wait.

I'm sorry, but people said they would wait during the crypto Boom

Youre gonna wait forever with that logic as some new shit seems to come up every single time.

 

[Loxus]

AI bubble may burst before then.

Nope, we are still ways away from AGI.

Then there's ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence).

These companies are investing and buying large quantities of tech right now to be the first to achieve AGI, which is Tech is so expensive right now.

 

[Draugoth]

People who think the AI bubble is crashing any time soon aren't paying attention.
I really think it will take years until that happens tbh.

It won't take long, most people are predicting before 2029.

Nope, we are still ways away from AGI.

Then there's ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence).

These companies are investing and buying large quantities of tech right now to be the first to achieve AGI, which is Tech is so expensive right now.

Depending on the definition of Singularity, it's likely impossible.

 

[analog_future]

Nope, we are still ways away from AGI.

Then there's ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence).

These companies are investing and buying large quantities of tech right now to be the first to achieve AGI, which is Tech is so expensive right now.

You can share a fancy infographic, but these goals are not an inevitability. You're responding as if these initiatives can't/won't fail. Look how many failures Meta/Apple/Google/etc.. have had just over the last 10 years alone.

These companies can illustrate whatever roadmap they want, but if it ceases to make them money the bubble is going to pop. Doesn't matter what goals they have.

 

[willothedog]

the Stargate project alone is going to gobble up 40% of global memory output.

 

[Loxus]

It won't take long, most people are predicting before 2029.



Depending on the definition of Singularity, it's likely impossible.

You can share a fancy infographic, but these goals are not an inevitability. You're responding as if these initiatives can't/won't fail. Look how many failures Meta/Apple/Google/etc.. have had just over the last 10 years alone.

These companies can illustrate whatever roadmap they want, but if it ceases to make them money the bubble is going to pop. Doesn't matter what goals they have.

Watch these videos.




Some AI Datacenters are scheduled to start building beyond 2030.
I can't see how the AI bubble will burst before next Gen consoles, if at all.

 

[BlackTron]

I'm sorry, but people said they would wait during the crypto Boom

Youre gonna wait forever with that logic as some new shit seems to come up every single time.

It just needs to seem worth it, which means comparing the cost against how badly I want performance heavy games that are no good on old PC or console I already have. It's not as big a deal as 20 years ago. When it was the only way to play HL2.

I'd lose 120hz in some FPS games and start plugging mouse/kb into a console. Starcraft II would look like Brood War. I'd lose my strongest emulation station sure, but I have insurance through real retro systems, emu handhelds and just older PC so I mean I'd survive lol.

Don't get me wrong, PC is my main gaming rig and I'm very happy it hasn't blown up, but if it did I would just backfill atm and keep myself distracted till the next BIG upgrade. My fav PC game right now is Megabonk which would run on a potato.

 

[A.Romero]

Increases haven't hit my country yet so I bought ram and an ssd for a new build I'm planning to gift this Xmas.

Prices are not coming down any time soon.

 

[Gaiff]

NAND flash for SSDs is also going up, so expect price increases there too. I'm not sure how this will affect consoles.

So tired of getting fucked over by corporations for whatever reason. If it's not AI, it's automotive. If it's not automotive, it's foundries. If it's not foundries, it's collusion. Always a reason to fuck us.

 

[Crayon]

I built ahead of schedule hedging on shit like this. I was even willing to overpay for the gpu before things got worse.

Thank god we have the energy usage issue for financial and political pressure to put the brakes on just a bit, because apparently rotting society is not enough to give any pause. Unfortunately the mexican standoff of the ai arms race is such a handy excuse to keep going with no regulation.

Youtube! Give me a filter for this garbage!

 

[YCoCg]

But think of all the good things AI will bring into your life! You'll get CEO focussed approved movies made with AI so they don't have to pay anyone, CEO approved TV streaming shows so they don't have to pay anyone, you'll get to spend time on the internet with social media flooded with AI that's there to keep you in your bubble, why even play games? Let the AI play games for you and give you a brief bullet point summary of the best and worst moments for you to praise and be outraged by, then you can video call your family for Christmas and hear valuable tales from your dead granparents thanks to the gift of AI, then you can focus on your work in the factory, go to work in the factory, make sure to watch AI generated content during your break, then get back to work, enjoy your new life enhanced by AI, you wont ever need to talk to another human being again, AI will chat with other AIs on your behalf, leaving you with even more time to consume content generated just for you!

 

[manfestival]

I have made a ton of money selling ddr4 and ddr5 sticks recently that I had sitting around collecting dust. Not a fan of this but may as well take advantage while I can

 

[Knightime_X]

For the good of the world, I hope you are wrong.
Because of AI, everything is more expensive. Chips, memory, energy, etc.
And in return we get more spyware, loses of thousands of jobs, plagiarism on an industrial scale, AI slop, more bots, more fake news and videos, more scams, etc.

There will be ai bots that will detect spyware
Loss of old jobs will spawn superior new jobs
Plagiarism isn't anything new. Humans have been copying other humans for centuries. Music, food recipes, movies, vide games, stories, the list is bottomless.
AI "slop" is limited to just bad effort. No different than a poorly drawn picture.
For every bad bot we'll likely see 10 good bots if we're being optimistic. AI doesn't sleep, unlike humans.
Fake news and videos is going to happen regardless, but you have to start somewhere.
With all new tech, new scams happen and will be defeated as usual.

 

[Durin]

Yeah, at this point AI is doing more damage to consumer tech prices than the tariffs wish they could.

If it keeps spiking, I could see the Steam Machine not hit $600, unless Valve wants to take a hit. And hopefully won't raise console pricing again.

 

[poppabk]

NAND flash for SSDs is also going up, so expect price increases there too. I'm not sure how this will affect consoles.

So tired of getting fucked over by corporations for whatever reason. If it's not AI, it's automotive. If it's not automotive, it's foundries. If it's not foundries, it's collusion. Always a reason to fuck us.

The worst part is they are buying all this stuff, driving up prices to create AI that they want to sell back to us. So we get fucked both ways.

 

[Gaiff]

The worst part is they are buying all this stuff, driving up prices to create AI that they want to sell back to us. So we get fucked both ways.

Exactly. AIs also meant to take our job so we have even less money to spend than what little we have.

 

[Montauk]

They're already failing though. Investors are in the stage where they're seeking returns for all the billions spent, and the current machine learning models have begun showing their limitations

Wrong on both counts.

It is particularly funny how many people have got the latter into their heads despite it being blatantly untrue.

I assure you that the models continue to get better.

 

[winjer]

DRAM Output Won't Increase Despite Rising Memory Prices

he memory market is heading into another difficult stretch, and there's no clear sign that things will ease anytime soon. DRAM prices have climbed sharply over the past months, yet manufacturers aren't preparing any meaningful increase in production. Instead, most of the industry is busy redirecting its efforts toward high-bandwidth memory needed for AI hardware. HBM consumes far more wafer resources than regular DRAM, and because it delivers much better margins, companies naturally shift capacity toward it. The end result is simple: less DRAM on the market and higher prices for everyone who needs it.

Major suppliers like Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are still raising their investment budgets, with combined capital spending expected to reach roughly 54 billion USD. But this money isn't going into new fabs or expanded DRAM bit output. Most of it is aimed at improving HBM yields, stacking designs, and the manufacturing processes required for the next wave of AI accelerators. Even with a reported double-digit rise in DRAM-related investments, the practical effect on consumer memory supply is close to zero, and analysts expect these shortages to continue through 2027.

The hesitancy to expand DRAM production comes mainly from uncertainty in the semiconductor market. AI demand is huge, but nobody can say how long this surge will last. Some industry voices believe AI is already in bubble territory. Analysts estimate the AI ecosystem would need to generate around 650 billion USD in yearly revenue just to justify the infrastructure spending currently underway. With that level of unknowns, chip makers are reluctant to build entirely new production lines that take several years to complete and may never operate at full capacity.

This is why most companies are choosing a safer route: converting existing DRAM lines into HBM lines. Retrofitting is faster, cheaper, and far less risky than building a new fab from scratch. The downside is that every conversion removes another chunk of DRAM output from the global supply. With HBM demand exploding due to data center and AI server rollouts, manufacturers keep shifting more of their available resources toward these high-value chips.

Another challenge is the simple reality of semiconductor construction timelines. Even if a memory maker green-lit a new facility today, it would take years before the first chips rolled off the line. DRAM also carries much lower margins compared to HBM, so without strong long-term guarantees, companies avoid sinking billions into additional DRAM capability. They'd rather focus on the parts currently driving revenue—and that's squarely the AI market.

For PC users, system builders, and OEMs, the situation means continued price pressure. Retail DRAM has already seen significant increases, and nothing suggests that new supply is coming to balance things out. As more production lines shift to HBM, DRAM output stays stagnant, and the shortage extends further. Experts expect limited supply growth throughout 2026, followed by a slow and gradual recovery that could stretch well into 2027.

No respite for in sight for us....
Fuck AI.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I've posted this in another thread, but due to all this AI race bullshit that sent DRAM prices (especially DDR5) skyrocketing over the past few weeks, I've decided to grab a new PC now instead of waiting until spring (I was banking on Nvidia's supposedly refreshing the 5000 series with Super variants).

Got a nice BF discount on the system I bought yesterday, so I'm very content with this decision of getting a new PC sooner rather than later. Specs are 9800X3D, 32GB DDR5 and 5070ti.

 

[XERXES_89]

Screw the metaverse bubble, screw the cryptocurrency mining bubble, and screw the AI bubble. Screw bubble economics. Unfortunately, this last bubble isn't going to burst, since at least it serves one purpose: laying off thousands of people.

 

[Xyphie]

Trendforce has 16Gbit GDDR6 at $19.244, so 16GB RAM in a PS5 or RX 9070 XT should be around ~$155. Presumably GDDR7 has some slight premium to that per GB.

 

[winjer]

Trendforce has 16Gbit GDDR6 at $19.244, so 16GB RAM in a PS5 or RX 9070 XT should be around ~$155. Presumably GDDR7 has some slight premium to that per GB.

GDDR7 probably has greater market pressure, due to being more advanced and widely used in AI servers.

 

[kittoo]

For the good of the world, I hope you are wrong.
Because of AI, everything is more expensive. Chips, memory, energy, etc.
And in return we get more spyware, loses of thousands of jobs, plagiarism on an industrial scale, AI slop, more bots, more fake news and videos, more scams, etc.

Man I hate AI slop on youtube. Its absolute garbage low tier stuff which now clutters half my youtube. I hate the videos, and most pictures, that AI generates.

 

[Hohenheim]

I have 64gb in both my pc's, and when the time comes to upgrade to 128gb in a couple of years, this situation will hopefully be better.
Insane price increase!

 

[Shubh_C63]

First COVID, then data miners, then Crypto and now AI.

I honestly am gonna buy a Steam Machine and call it done for next 5 years.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Newsflash!

Its absolutely FUCKED!

 

[Hudo]

Fuck everyone.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Wrong on both counts.

It is particularly funny how many people have got the latter into their heads despite it being blatantly untrue.

I assure you that the models continue to get better.

The models get better within their limitations, but the limitations are still there. Like it or not, these AIs are just statistical models at the end of the day, and statistics can only achieve so much.

 

[Toots]

Fuck everyone.

Fuck those who see others as means for an end most of all.