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RAM, a computer’s rapid access memory supply, has become increasingly expensive. In just two months, prices have more than doubled, and there is no sign of slowing down any time soon. Several stores have even ceased printing price label so they can adjust RAM prices daily.

According to the CTEE statistics, DRAM contract prices have risen by astounding 172.8% year over year as of the third quarter of 2025. In reality, DRAM costs have increased to the point that they are equal to current gold price hikes and could even surpass them. In addition to the RAM price increase, SSD storage and graphics card prices have also been on the rise.

One must consider the amount of investment in AI infrastructure in order to understand why the RAM prices are skyrocketing. The shortages are caused by DRAM manufacturers shifting a portion of their manufacturing to HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), which is used by AI accelerators like NVIDIA’s B300 or specially designed accelerators by Google, Microsoft, and AWS. These businesses reserve supplies years in advance.

The announcement of the ‘Stargate’ initiative by OpenAI and Microsoft worsened the situation. This project basically takes over lots of resources from Samsung and SK Hynix, some of the biggest manufacturers of memory. The completion of this contract is predicted to result in a 40% reduction of worldwide supplies of DRAM that are accessible to other parties. Smartphone manufacturers, the automotive sector, and the PC market will have a much smaller share of the global production if this project consumes almost half of the memories being produced.

These shortages have caused severe panic buying, and businesses have rushed to stock up on supplies, resulting in even higher prices. What is worse is that there won’t be any relief anytime soon, as it takes at least 3 years to build a new greenfield factory. Even if big businesses like Micron, Samsung, or SK Hynix decided to construct multiple factories today, it would not be fully built until 2028, and it would only go online in 2029.

Recently, it was announced on December 3 that Micron Technology, one of the most well-known brands in the market, will stop selling RAM and SSDs to PC builders and enthusiasts under the Crucial brand this coming 2026. They stated that they will uphold warranties on current products and continue to ship essential consumer goods through the end of its fiscal second quarter in February 2026. But as of now, if the cost keeps going up, the cost of gaming might become unaffordable to a number of people. For instance, even at its current discounted prices, a high-end 64GB DDR5 RAM now costs more than a PS5 Pro.

This is an overall change in the whole market, not just a brief price increase. The world’s memory supply is being completely taken off by the large contracts that AI companies like Microsoft and Google have signed, leaving average customers and PC builders with nothing but a hefty price tag. The writing is on the wall, as memory manufacturers like Micron are now abandoning the enthusiast market since the AI industry is just too profitable. The dream of reasonably priced, high-end PC performance is over for gamers and those who build their own personal computers.

by Ralph Coronel