The writing has been on the wall for some time that DRAM prices would hit epic high levels, and they are expected to keep increasing. There’s no immediate end in sight for those hoping to see DRAM prices stabilize, as Q3 25 contract prices reportedly (via CTEE) increased by 171.8% year-on-year. Murmurings from within the industry began circulating that DDR5 shortages were on the horizon, which led to some manufacturers clinging to DDR4 to offset rising costs, and now, according to multiple reports from DigiTimes, every sector of the industry is feeling the effects of these conditions.
It’s been said that some memory module manufacturers “can’t buy even if they have the money” and are scrambling to get locked-in contracts in place to secure future orders. However, even this strategy doesn’t help when cloud service providers have reported that they presently are only able to get an order fulfillment rate of only 70%. Add in that DDR5 prices for 16 GB modules have reportedly risen from ~$8 in September to $13 in October, and the picture gets even bleaker. On the enterprise side of things, SSD costs rose upwards of 35% last month, with RDIMM prices surpassing previous estimates to reach 50% increases.
ADATA exec Chen Li-bai has been very vocal regarding current conditions and poignant in expressing how AI is at the crux of these shortages and staggering price increases. He predicts that we’re still in the beginning of this phase, which will see increased momentum in Q4 25 reports and reach a severe global shortage level in 2026, and will impact everything from DDR5 to flash memory and even HDD pricing. Phison CEO Pua Khein-Seng recently said (per CommonWealth Magazine Taiwan, via Tom’s Hardware) that he expects NAND shortages to last for a decade, but largely attributes that to recent investment strategies coupled with the needs of the maturing AI sector demands. He adds that the splurge on GPUs for AI training will then lead to other needs for storage.
“In my view, those multi-billion-dollar capex plans by cloud providers won’t be entirely bet on GPUs; an even greater share will go into storage. To make money, you need users. Users create data. Data needs to be stored. Which means data centers must expand storage for the next decade. After all, a data center’s core function is storage.”
– Pua Khein-Seng, CEO of Phison Electronics Corporation
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →Crazy isn't it. I hear it's for multiple reasons: Demand from AI centers, movement to HBM, which uses stacked chips that eat up production, companies stockpiling RAM in warehouses, a shortage of production, and tariffs taking effect; it all adds up to a perfect storm of pricing. I hear it is also going to, if not already, affect SSDs to a degree as well—bad times for these components for consumers.
Hmm - my bingo card for Why DRAM Prices are Going Up This Time has a square for "AI starts human culling", is that like the same thing here?
I read a post on TPU while researching this that mentioned mem kits on Newegg that had been at just over $100 now costing more than $200. So glad most of my stuff is where I need it to be for now but worried what'll be like next fall when I was planning on upgrading the 5800X3D rig to AM5, that one might have to run a bit longer (still doing pretty well so not really worried there).
You know you're screwed when Microcenter dropped the memory from their Combo kits. Now you're offered a 2-in-1 deal whereas you used to be able to get 3-in-1 deals.. LOL
So glad I got my AM5 build done last spring when rumors about this stuff started. I did it more because I just wanted to but also because it seems like there's always something causing prices to go up these days and I didn't want to wait until I couldn't afford it since everything is already so expensive.
Yupz. Found out the hard way when I went to look up bundles to recommend to friends and clients. Micro Center bundles are often handy. But yeah when I checked recently, I saw they no longer included the RAM, and I was like "dayaaaaaaaaaamn, it's like that now?!"
Yyyeeeaaahhh maaaaaan, you made the right call on dat shiznit. Wowzers. That could have been very painful.
It's always something going back to the first crypto boom. I buy parts any time there is a killer deal. DDR5 is the only component I am not well stocked up on. Only have one board that takes it and it's no big deal if I have to use one of my 5800X3D systems while I RMA.
When I see people telling others to wait for this or that upcoming component e.g. "Wait for the 50 series supers." I SMDH. They never learn. If you miss the window for buying PC parts you want, there's a good chance it's going to cost you more later. Especially when we are talking about waiting for stuff that isn't even confirmed yet.
I remember a very long time ago that you might be able to get high-end GPUs at a lower cost after release but that ended around pre-1080 Ti days and ever since, regardless of reason, I've seen those prices go up at some point after release. I still remember how the 1080 Ti skyrocketed to ~$1500 right before the 2080 Ti came out because at one point I was considering doing SLI with one but ended up paying MSRP for the 2080 Ti when launched. I also remember joking with Kyle back then about space invaders due us both having ordered one about the same time.
I've seen the same happen with other components like CPUs and RAM since around that same time period as well, with DDR3 and Intel 4000/5000 series processors when I was doing a bunch of upgrades then and got some great BF deals, only to see those components also skyrocket months later.
Sure, why not?
[URL unfurl="true"]https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-rumored-to-raise-gpu-prices-just-as-radeon-rx-9070-xt-finally-reaches-msrp[/URL]
Just glad I got my upgrades done when I did. It would suck to try and build a PC right now with these costs.
Actually that's very true. The only piece I didn't upgrade was my video card. And I can wait on that one.
Move along now, nothing to see here. ;)
Wttf... I mean yea its 128 gig.. maybe worth 400 def not 800 bucks.. YEESH!!
Wow, I paid less for all of this (which includes a premium priced mATX board)
than what it would now cost just for the memory alone:
This decade has exacerbated my predilection for hoarding PC parts. That it keeps ending with me patting myself on the back for getting in at the right time, is the worst part.