AI eats the DRAM supply: DDR5 prices up 500% in a year, back to 2007 levels
量子位 · wechat · 2026-08-21
Per Tom's Hardware / PCPartPicker data, DDR5 memory surged across the board from Aug 2025 to Aug 2026: 2×16GB kits went from $100 to $480–572; 64GB DDR5-5600 kits jumped from under $200 to over $1,100 (+485%); a 128GB kit went from a $329 floor to $3,399. DDR4 rose 120–180%, European RAM prices climbed 345% YoY, and SSDs/HDDs gained over 125%. At Huaqiangbei wholesale, prices quadrupled and dealers avoid stocking inventory.
The root cause is AI: cloud vendors reportedly locked in most global 2027 DRAM capacity with large deposits, while one HBM wafer consumes the capacity of 3–4 ordinary DDR5 wafers, pushing advanced capacity toward high-margin HBM and server memory. SK Hynix's CEO warns 2027 will be the worst memory supply year ever, with the squeeze possibly lasting until 2030. One researcher estimates per-capacity RAM pricing has reverted to 2007 levels — undoing 20 years of price declines in about a year.
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