TECH NEWS – In the long term, Google’s technology may trigger a sustained price drop.
Following the unveiling of Google’s TurboQuant compression algorithm, the memory industry has been on a rollercoaster ride. Prices for DDR5 memory have dropped significantly at many U.S. retailers. On Amazon, Corsair memory module prices have dropped considerably: the 32 GB Vengeance DDR5 SKUs, which run at speeds of up to 6400 MHz, are currently priced at around $380, representing a substantial decrease from the recent peak price of approximately $490. The price drop also extends to 16 GB modules: the DDR5-5200 model is priced at $221, which is discounted compared to the previous record high of around $260. These drops are more aggressive; just a week ago, prices were still near the upper limit.
Similar prices can be found for these offers on Newegg. Price drops for Corsair products appear to be more aggressive than those of other manufacturers. Considering that 32 GB DDR5 kits were priced above $450 last week, this is a substantial decrease, and it’s a trend we’d love to see continue. The actual reason behind the price drop is the introduction of Google’s TurboQuant algorithm, which sparked controversy in the memory industry and wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off the market capitalization of Micron and other DRAM suppliers.
TurboQuant is a KV-cache compression algorithm that can reduce the memory requirements of AI workloads by up to six times. According to a Google study, applying the compression layer results in no noticeable difference for long-context workloads. This suggests that future memory requirements will not be as pressing as they are today. However, numerous experts have refuted this claim. Reducing memory requirements would open up opportunities for manufacturers to increase production of their DRAM products because there are severe bottlenecks in the current supply chain.
The aforementioned decline in memory prices could be triggered by a clearance sale following the launch of TurboQuant. For now, this is just speculation.
