The cost of a lot of devices is likely to go up due to the steep rise in price of RAM — usually considered one of the cheaper computer components. The prices of the component have more than doubled since October last year.
The tech powers everything from smartphones to smart TVs, as well as things like medical devices. Its price shot up because of the growth of AI data centers, which also require the component.
While manufacturers often swallow small cost increases, big ones like this get passed on to consumers. “We are being quoted costs around 500% higher than they were only a couple of months ago,” said Steve Mason, general manager of CyberPowerPC, which builds computers.
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He said there “will come a point” where these increased component costs will “force” manufacturers to “make decisions about pricing.” “If it uses memory, or storage, there is the potential for price increases,” he added.
RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory, is used to store code when a device is used. It is a critical component of every computer.
Danny Williams from rival computer building site PCSpecialist said he expected price increases to continue “well into 2026.” “The market has been very buoyant in 2025 and if memory prices do not fall back a little I would expect a reduction in consumer demand in 2026,” he said, adding that he’d seen “a varied impact” across different RAM producers.
Williams said that some vendors “have larger inventories and therefore their price increases are more subtle at perhaps 1.5x to 2x.” However, other firms did not have a large amount of stock — and they had increased prices by “up to 5x” more.
Chris Miller, author of “Chip War,” said that AI was “the main factor” driving demand for computer memory. “There’s been a surge of demand for memory chips, driven above all by the high-end High Bandwidth Memory that AI requires,” he said, adding that this has led to higher price across different types of memory chips.
Miller added that prices “often fluctuate dramatically” based on “demand and supply” — and demand is significantly up right now.
Mike Howard from Tech Insights told the BBC it came down to cloud service providers finalizing their memory requirements for 2026 and 2027. He said that gave the people who make RAM a clear picture of demand — and it was “unmistakable” that supply “will not meet the levels that Amazon, Google, and other hyperscalers are planning for.” “With both demand clarity and supply constraints converging, suppliers have steadily pushed prices upward, in some cases aggressively,” he said. “Some suppliers have even paused issuing price quotes, a rare move that signals confidence that future prices will rise further.”