The RAM Situation is Out of Control — Here's What You Need to Know

Look, I'm gonna tell you something right now, and it's not gonna be fun to hear. If you've been looking at building a PC, upgrading your rig, or even just slapping in some extra memory lately — you already know. RAM prices have gone absolutely bonkers. And I mean bonkers.

We're talking about a 32GB DDR5 kit — something that was running you around a hundred bucks back in mid-2025 — now costing you upwards of $350 to $450. Some 64GB kits are pushing $800 to $900. That's GPU money. That's "maybe I should just buy a whole laptop" money. And the worst part? It doesn't look like it's getting better anytime soon.

So let's break down what's actually going on, why this is happening, and what the future looks like. Because there's a lot of noise out there, and I want to give you the real picture.

What's Actually Happening Right Now

As of early 2026, memory prices have surged somewhere between 80% and 90% compared to where they were at the end of 2025. And that's not some obscure analyst number — you can see it plain as day on any retailer's website. Tom's Hardware has been tracking the lowest prices on DDR5 and DDR4 kits daily, and the charts look like a freaking rocket launch.

DDR5 got hit the hardest. A conventional 32GB DDR5 kit that was going for $100 to $200 last October is now starting at $350 — if you can even find it in stock. Some of the higher-end kits? Forget about it. Retailers have started bundling RAM with motherboard and CPU combos just to manage inventory, kind of like what we saw during the GPU shortage a few years back. Scalpers are back too, gobbling up stock and flipping kits on eBay for absolutely ridiculous markups. Some are going for over $2,000. I wish I was joking.

And here's the thing that really gets me — DDR4 isn't even a safe haven anymore. Kits that were $60 to $90 in October 2025 are now running $150 to $180. So if you were thinking "I'll just stick with my older platform," yeah, that's getting expensive too.

There are some early signs that the week-over-week price explosions are starting to level off. Germany saw only a 0.1% increase in DDR5 pricing across January. But let's be clear — prices are stabilizing at extremely elevated levels. It's not that things are getting cheaper. People are just hitting a ceiling of what they're willing to pay.

Why Is This Happening? It's AI. Of Course It's AI.

I know, I know. Everything is AI's fault these days. But in this case? It genuinely is.

Here's the deal. The data centers that power all these AI services — your ChatGPTs, your Geminis, your cloud computing platforms — they require absolutely massive amounts of memory. We're talking about companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta literally placing open-ended orders with memory suppliers, telling them "we'll take as much as you can make, whatever the cost."

The specific type of memory these companies need is called HBM — High Bandwidth Memory. It's specialized stuff that goes into AI accelerators and data center GPUs. The problem is, manufacturing HBM requires significantly more wafer capacity per bit than your standard DDR4 or DDR5 sticks. So when Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron started ramping up HBM production to fulfill these massive AI contracts, they had to pull manufacturing resources away from consumer memory lines.

Samsung reportedly expanded their capacity to target 60,000 wafers per month specifically for HBM4 production. That's wafers that aren't being used to make the DDR5 that goes in your gaming PC. And to make things worse, Micron actually exited their Crucial consumer brand altogether. That should tell you everything about where the industry's priorities are right now.

On top of the AI demand squeeze, there's the DDR4-to-DDR5 transition happening simultaneously. Manufacturers are phasing out DDR4 production, which is making those older modules scarce and weirdly expensive. So you've got this double whammy — DDR5 supply is being eaten up by data centers, and DDR4 supply is drying up because nobody wants to keep making it when they can charge a premium for DDR5 and HBM.

And then there's the speculation and hoarding. Retailers in Tokyo's Akihabara district started limiting purchases to prevent stockpiling. PC OEMs like Lenovo admitted they were sitting on inventories about 50% above normal levels just to prepare for further price increases. OpenAI even announced a strategic partnership with Samsung and SK Hynix specifically to lock down memory supply for their Stargate AI infrastructure project. The big players are securing their supply chains and leaving everyone else to fight over the scraps.

What the Analysts Are Saying About the Future

Alright, so here's the part where I'm gonna be real with you — the projections are not great.

TrendForce, one of the most respected market research firms for memory pricing, initially forecasted that DRAM contract prices would jump 55-60% in Q1 2026 compared to late 2025. They've since revised that upward to a 90-95% surge. That's nearly a doubling in a single quarter.

Counterpoint Research is painting a similar picture, reporting that memory prices have already spiked 80-90% from Q4 2025, and their data shows that DRAM operating margins hit the 60% range. Memory manufacturers are making an absolute killing right now.

And the ripple effects go beyond just RAM sticks. SSDs are getting hit too, with NAND flash prices expected to surge 55-60% in Q1 2026. GPU prices could also climb because — guess what — graphics cards need memory too, and memory makers are diverting production to higher-margin AI products. AMD is reportedly already raising graphics card prices due to the memory shortage, and Nvidia is looking at cutting gaming GPU production by up to 40% in 2026 because of VRAM supply issues.

IDC is warning that the PC market could contract by nearly 5% in their moderate scenario, or almost 9% in a pessimistic one. PC vendors including Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer, and ASUS have already warned clients about 15-20% price hikes across the board.

What Should You Actually Do?

So here's my honest take. If you need to build a PC or upgrade your RAM right now — and I mean you genuinely need to — don't wait. The data suggests prices are more likely to go up than down over the next several months. Waiting for a dip is basically a losing strategy in 2026.

And look — I get that this is frustrating. I review laptops and tech for a living, and even I'm looking at these prices going "what is happening?" But the reality is that the AI boom has fundamentally reshaped where memory manufacturers are putting their resources. Consumer RAM is no longer the priority. We're living in a world where tech companies building AI infrastructure are willing to pay whatever it takes, and we're all feeling the downstream effects of that.

The silver lining? This won't last forever. New fab capacity is being built. The market will eventually correct. It always does. But "eventually" probably means 2027 or 2028, not next month.

In the meantime, be smart with your purchases, keep an eye on bundle deals, and don't panic-buy more than you need. We'll get through this — it's just gonna be a bumpy ride.