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.
RAM pricing crisis: top stories
- Brace yourself: PCs, laptops and phones may jump in price as early as December thanks to a '500%' RAM/SSD surge
- RAM crisis continues to worsen — Micron kills Crucial consumer memory in favor of AI data centers
- A major RAM price rise will impact laptops, PCs and GPUs in 2026
What’s happening?
- A DRAM chip oligopoly controls around 95% of production
- A huge influx of demand from AI and data center companies has caused a drought
- That’s spiking the price for consumers, as business customers have more money to throw around
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.
Why are prices skyrocketing?
- Supply & demand — AI and data centers have been the leading force behind the massive surge in demand
- That leaves this DRAM chip oligopoly in a position to charge whatever they want for the very limited consumer supply
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.
What tech will be impacted?
- PC components like RAM, SSDs and GPUs, and PCs as a whole
- Laptops
- Games consoles
- Phones
- Tablets
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?
How long will this last?
- When production capacity is expanded in a few years
- Or until the AI bubble bursts — whichever comes first
In my mind, there are only two ways this price spike ends. Let me explain the scenarios.
Scenario one: supply catches up to meet demand
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.
Scenario two: the bubble bursts
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.
Outlook
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).
Something’s got to give here.
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