TECH NEWS – Memory will become even more expensive next year. In the short term, we should not expect RAM to become affordable.

A few days ago, Micron discontinued its consumer brand, Crucial. The DRAM and NAND manufacturer made this difficult decision due to the growing demand in the AI segment, which has affected all areas of the consumer market, leading to price increases for memory kits, SSDs, and GPUs. The situation is much worse than anyone could have imagined. Imagine the cryptocurrency boom, the shortage caused by the pandemic, and the era of speculators all happening at once. Rumor has it that the memory shortage will last until at least the fourth quarter of 2027 for all products, including DDR5 and DDR4 memory.

The problem is that DRAM is found in two key PC products: memory kits and GPUs. Prices for both have already started to rise. Additionally, other products use these technologies, including desktop PCs, laptops, mini PCs, handhelds, and consoles. Any product that uses these technologies in some form will see price increases, all because of AI. The growing demand for AI means that data centers require more memory and storage. Data center customers are also willing to pay more than consumers for these technologies. This is why Micron discontinued Crucial; they know they can make unimaginably large profits from the booming AI segment compared to the much smaller desktop and laptop PC markets. Major DRAM/NAND suppliers, such as SK Hynix and Samsung, are all striving for higher profitability from AI, and nothing can stop them.

“We have indeed observed noticeable upward pressure on prices across the NAND and DRAM markets. The current situation is not just price fluctuation; it’s the result of an unprecedented supply shortage, driven primarily by surging demand for AI and DDR5 server platforms. Additionally, as the demand for data storage in data centers continues to grow and hard drive manufacturers have yet to expand production, the storage of cold data has gradually shifted toward SSDs, further tightening the supply of NAND Flash. With wafer foundries and component suppliers already operating near full capacity, all categories of DRAM products — including DDR5, LPDDR5, GDDR6, GDDR7, and DDR4 — are facing shortages. The imbalance between supply and demand is expected to persist through at least the first half of next year. While the market remains dynamic, we continue to leverage strong partnerships and agile inventory management to maintain supply stability and strengthen our foundation for future growth,” said Teamgroup’s general manager, Chen Qingwen.

The peak of the price increase will occur in mid-2026, which seems crazy since memory prices have already doubled or tripled in a few months. Some memory manufacturers claim that they are paying twice as much for memory ICs. Others say that major memory manufacturers give them only a few hours to pay before withdrawing their offers. These manufacturers then raise prices and inform the memory manufacturers that their items have been sold to someone else. The memory manufacturers then have to pay even more than before.

Source: WCCFTech